Music

With 412,000 equivalent album units that include 326,000 in pure album sales, the Canadian singer's latest album posts the second-biggest sales week of 2015.

• Sep 7, 2015

AceShowbiz - As predicted, The Weeknd's "Beauty Behind the Madness" makes its debut at No. 1 on Billboard 200 with an impressive sales figure. The Canadian crooner's latest album lands atop the list with 412,000 equivalent album units collected in the tracking week ending on September 3.

The project posts the second-biggest sales week for an album in 2015. It follows Drake's "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" which earlier this year opened with 535,000 units that included 495,000 in pure album sales.

With 326,000 copies of traditional album, "Beauty" easily gives The Weeknd his first No. 1 album on Billboard 200 in addition to his best sales week ever. His previous releases, 2013's "Kiss Land" and 2012's "Trilogy", peaked at No. 2 and 4 respectively.

Next on this week's chart, The Weeknd's future tourmate Halsey's "Badlands" comes at No. 2 with 115,000 units including 97,000 pure album sales. The album scores the second-biggest debut of 2015 for a female artist, following Meghan Trainor's "Title" which opened with 238,000 units (195,000 in album sales).

At No. 3, Luke Bryan's "Kill the Lights" falls from last week's No. 2 with another 50,000 units. Taylor Swift's "1989", meanwhile, rises three rungs to No. 4 with 44,000. Dr. Dre's "Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre" closes out the top 5 with 31,000.

Ed Sheeran's "X" bows at No. 6, jumping from last week's No. 5, with 28,000. Country duo Maddie & Tae's debut full-length "Start Here" trails closely behind with 28,000 units. Beach House's "Depression Cherry" starts at No. 8 with 27,000.

Ben Rector becomes the next and last newcomer in the top 10 as his "Brand New" debuts at No. 9 with 26,000, which is his best sales week yet. Last week's first placer Disturbed's "Immortalized" claims the No. 10 spot on the chart with additional 26,000.

1. "Beauty Behind the Madness" - The Weeknd (412,000)
2. "Badlands" - Halsey (115,000)
3. "Kill the Lights" - Luke Bryan (50,000)
4. "1989" - Taylor Swift (44,000)
5. "Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre" - Dr. Dre (31,000)
6. "X" - Ed Sheeran (28,000)
7. "Start Here" - Maddie & Tae (28,000)
8. "Depression Cherry" - Beach House (27,000)
9. "Brand New" - Ben Rector (26,000)
10. "Immortalized" - Disturbed (26,000)