'Frozen' princesses reclaim throne on top of Billboard album chart

[March 20, 2014]  By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — The animated princesses of Disney hit "Frozen" reclaimed the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday as the soundtrack to the juggernaut film beat new entries to No. 1.

"Frozen," which features the Oscar-winning track "Let It Go," sold 99,000 copies in its 16th week on the chart and climbed from No. 3 last week, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan.

"Frozen" was only one of four soundtracks to have clocked six weeks or more on the Billboard 200 chart since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.

The film, about a pair of Nordic princesses forced to save their kingdom from a never-ending winter, surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Country singer Luke Bryan came in at No. 2 with his new extended play album "Spring Break 6 - Like We Ain't Never," which sold 74,000 copies. Last week's chart topper, "Master Mind" by rapper Rick Ross, dropped to No. 3 this week.

Other new entries in the top 10 of this week's best-selling 200 albums according to Billboard include soul singer Aloe Blacc's "Lift Your Spirit," which came in at No. 4. The singer gained prominence after lending his vocals to Swedish DJ Avicii's hit dance anthem, "Wake Me Up."

Rockers 311 came in at No. 6 with "Stereolithic." Record label Young Money Entertainment's latest compilation "Rise of an Empire," which features tracks by its artists including Nicki Minaj and Drake, notched No. 7.

Country singer Sara Evans debuted at No. 9 with "Slow Me Down."

For the week ending Sunday, overall album sales totaled 4.6 million units, down 18 percent from the same week in 2013, Billboard said.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Mary Milliken and Amanda Kwan)

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