'Now...50' ousts 'Frozen' from No. 1 on Billboard 200 album chart

[May 15, 2014] By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — The "Frozen" Disney princesses were toppled from the top spot on the weekly Billboard 200 chart on Wednesday by the latest installment of the "Now That's What I Call Music!" compilation franchise.

The 50th edition of "Now...Music!," which features hit songs from Pharrell, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars, sold 153,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The "Frozen" movie soundtrack from Walt Disney Co, which has dominated the Billboard 200 chart this year with 13 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, dropped to No. 2 this week with 99,000 in sales.

Other new albums in the top 10 this week include country singer Hunter Hayes at No. 3 with "Storyline," Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan at No. 4 with "Shine On," and rapper Tech N9ne's collaborative album "Strangeulation" at No. 5.

Rap group Atmosphere's "Southsiders" debuted at No. 8, and guitarist Carlos Santana's Latin rock band Santana entered at No. 9 with "Corazon."

For the week ended May 11, overall album sales totaled 4.1 million, down 17 percent from the comparable week in 2013, Billboard said.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Lisa Shumaker)

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