Drake at No. 1 comes up shy of Gold in first sales week on The Billboard 200

Drake

Some people said a cool million. Others said Gold (500,000). Even more said "best sales for a single album this year."

But no. The much-hyped debut "Thank Me Later" from Drake came up shy of all that, bowing at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with 447,000.

Two other releases sold more in their first week this year: Sade's "Soldier of Love" (502,000) and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (481,000).

Still, this comes after the fact that much of the Drake album had leaked, or "leaked," even months prior to its oft-moved release date. This, as "Up All Night" advances in digital sales and radio play.

Behind the Young Money artist at No. 2 is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Mojo," with 125,000 -- the best sales week for Petty since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The last time one of the rockers' albums reached that high on the chart was in 1980, with "Damn the Torpedoes." It also distresses me to learn that Tom Petty has never had a No. 1 album on The Billboard 200. Poor Tom Petty. Still, an impressive number, which was helped by the fact that concert ticket buyers scored a free download of the album with purchase.

Sarah McLachlan's first proper studio set in seven years, "Laws of Illusion," arrives at No. 3 with 94,000. Her previous, "Afterglow," bowed at No. 2 with 361,000 back in 2003.

The 34th installment of the "NOW That's What I Call Music" hits compilation series starts at No. 4 with 88,000. It is only the second album out of the 34 to debut with less than 100,000 (besides than the first one).

The rest of the top 10 are old titles. Jack Johnson's "To The Sea" falls No. 4 to No. 5 (68,000, down 24% in sales), the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" soundtrack slips No. 2 t No. 6 (55,000, -63%), Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" descends No. 6 to No. 7 (47,000, -4%), "Need You Now" sits tight at No. 8 (40,000, +4%), Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" moves No. 3 to No. 9 (40,000, -64%) and "Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals" goes No. 1 to No. 10 (39,000, -64%).

Sales for the week are up 9% compared to last week and down 9% compared to the same week last year. Overall sales this year are down 11% compared to last.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.