Lana Del Rey tops Billboard chart, Linkin Park sales climb

[August 03, 2017]   By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lana Del Rey landed her second chart-topping record and led a slew of new albums in the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, while Linkin Park experienced a sales surge following the suicide of the band's frontman earlier this month.

Del Rey's "Lust for Life" sold 80,000 albums, 24,000 songs and was streamed more than 36 million times, totaling 107,000 album units, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. It is her second album to debut at No. 1, following her 2014 album "Ultraviolence."

Del Rey edged out rapper Tyler, The Creator's album "Flower Boy," which debuted at No. 2 with 106,000 album units sold, while rapper Meek Mill's "Wins & Losses" landed at No. 3 with 102,000 copies sold.

California alt-rock band Linkin Park saw two of its albums re-enter the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart this week as sales surged following Chester Bennington's death on July 20. The band's May album "One More Light" climbed from No. 17 to No. 4 with 50,000 album units, while 2000's "Hybrid Theory" rose from No. 27 to No. 8 with 41,000 units sold.

The Billboard 200 chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).

It is normally revealed weekly on Mondays, but was delayed this week after a major retailer was unable to report sales figures due to a technical issue, Billboard said, not naming the retailer.

Other new entries in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart this week include the soundtrack of Disney Channel movie "Descendants 2" at No. 6 and Latin pop singer Romeo Santos at No. 10 with "Golden."

Last week's chart-topper, rapper Jay-Z's "4:44," dropped to No. 7 this week.

On the Digital Songs chart, which measures online single sales, Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi's catchy summer hit "Despacito" featuring Justin Bieber continued its hold on No. 1, with another 102,000 copies sold.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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