Maldonado & Pentatonix Groupmates Remain Atop the Billboard 200 for Second Week

Kirstie Maldonado is still basking in the holiday spirit…

The 24-year-old half-Mexican, part Spanish-American singer and her fellow Pentatonix members spend a second week atop the Billboard 200 with their holiday album A Pentatonix Christmas.

Pentatonix

The set earned 101,000 equivalent album units in the week ending December 29, 2016 — the final tracking week of the calendar year.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

The closing tracking frame of 2016 includes the two days leading up to Christmas Day and the holiday itself, so it’s fitting that a Christmas album leads the tally.

While A Pentatonix Christmas’ total units earned for the week were down by 51 percent, its traditional album sales were greater than any other album: it sold 82,000 copies (down 55 percent), far ahead of the No. 2 selling set of the week, Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic, with 55,000 copies (down 39 percent).

A Pentatonix Christmas‘ handsome sales, along with small declines in SEA and TEA (down 12 and 10 percent, respectively), helps keep the album ahead of the No. 2 set on the Billboard 200, The Weeknd’s former No. 1 Starboy. The latter climbs one rung with 94,000 units (down only 7 percent).

Mars’ 24K Magic dips one slot to No. 3 with 81,000 units (down 29 percent), while J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only is steady at No. 4 with 75,000 units (down 16 percent).

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical climbs two positions to No. 5 with 54,000 units (down 7 percent). This is the highest rank for the title in five months, since it also placed at No. 5 on the August 6, 2016-dated list. The album has so far peaked at No. 3 (July 2, 2016), following its 11 Tony Award wins on June 12.

The soundtrack to the animated film Moana jumps 10-6 on the new chart with 53,000 units (up 4 percent), while Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface vaults 15-7 with 52,000 units (up 37 percent). The latter album benefits from a $5.99 sale price in the Apple iTunes store, as well as promotion generated by the release of Twenty One Pilots’ new EP with MuteMathThe MuteMath Sessions, on Dec. 20. Overall sales of Blurryface were up by 23 percent to 33,000, while its download sales increased by a whopping 268 percent to 20,000.

Maldonado & Her Pentatonix Bandmates’ Christmas Album Reaches No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

Kirstie Maldonado is a woman on top… of the charts…

The 24-year-old half-Mexican, part Spanish-American singer and her fellow Pentatonix members have scored their second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

Pentatonix

The vocal group’s Pentatonix Christmas rises 2-1 on the latest list, earning 206,000 equivalent album units in the week ending December 22 (up 32 percent), according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 185,000 were in traditional album sales (up 33 percent).

It’s the first holiday album at No. 1 in five years, since Michael Buble’s Christmas ruled the tally for five consecutive weeks on the charts dated December 10, 2011, through January 7, 2012.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Pentatonix previously led the list with its self-titled album, which debuted atop the list in 2015.

A Pentatonix Christmas was released through RCA Records on October 21. It debuted at No. 3 on the November 12-dated chart, and has never ranked lower than No. 6 on the list in its nine weeks on the chart.

The album benefits from not only holiday-fueled purchases, as well as a sale price in the iTunes Store (for just $7.99), but also a number of television appearances from the group during the tracking week. The act’s December 7 performance on ABC‘s Jimmy Kimmel Live! repeated on Dec. 16; NBC‘s A Pentatonix Christmas Special (which premiered on December 14) received an encore airing on December 17; they sang on NBC’s America’s Got Talent Holiday Spectacular on December 19; and they performed on Fox News’ Fox & Friends on December 21 and the syndicated Rachael Ray Show on December  22.

A Pentatonix Christmas is the group’s sixth top 10 album overall, and third holiday effort to reach the region, following 2014’s No. 2-peaking That’s Christmas to Me, and the 2013 PTXmas EP, which climbed to No. 7.

Pentatonix’s latest No. 1 also earns the largest sales week for a holiday album in two years, since Pentatonix’s previous holiday set, That’s Christmas to Me, sold 203,000 copies in the week ending December 21, 2014. In fact, the last acts that weren’t Pentatonix to sell more in a single week with a holiday album were Michael Buble and Justin Bieber during the week ending December 25, 2011. That week, Buble sold 467,000 copies of Christmas, while Bieber moved 225,000 copies of his Under the Mistletoe.

Further, A Pentatonix Christmas is the first album to earn its first week at No. 1 by climbing there — as opposed to debuting or re-entering at No. 1–since Rihanna’s Anti vaulted from No. 27 to No. 1 in its second chart week, on the February 20-dated list.

Also notable, since A Pentatonix Christmas reaches No. 1 in its ninth week on the list, it logs the slowest continuous climb to No. 1 (thus excepting re-entries at No. 1 from Prince’s The Very Best of Prince and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller) since the March 16, 2013-dated list, when Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox reached No. 1 in its 12th week.

Pentatonix’s New Holiday Album On Track to Reach No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

Kirstie Maldonado is ready to rule the roost…

The 24-year-old half-Mexican, part Spanish-American singer and her fellow Pentatonix members are on track for the vocal group’s second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as industry forecasters believe the a cappella act’s latest release, the holiday effort A Pentatonix Christmas, could rise to the top of next week’s list.

Pentatonix

Prognosticators say the album could earn over 175,000 equivalent album units in the week ending December 22. That should be enough to easily take over the top spot, as the next closest competitors will likely be The Weeknd’s Starboy album and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic, with both albums predicted to sell around 100,000 copies for the week.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top 10 of the new January 7, 2017-dated Billboard 200 chart — where A Pentatonix Christmas could rise to No. 1 — is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s websites on Monday, December 26.

A Pentatonix Christmas was released through RCA Records on October 21. It debuted at No. 3 on the November 12-dated chart, and has never ranked lower than No. 6 on the list in its eight weeks on the chart. On the latest tally, reflecting the tracking week ending December 15, it climbed from No. 3 to No. 2 with 156,000 units (up from 128,000 the week previous).

The album is basking in the glow of holiday-fueled purchases, as well as a sale price in the iTunes Store (for just $7.99), as well as due to a number of television appearances from the group during the tracking week. The act’s December 7 performance on ABC‘s Jimmy Kimmel Live! repeated on December 16, NBC‘s A Pentatonix Christmas Special (which premiered on Dec. 14) received an encore airing on December 17, and they sang on NBC’s America’s Got Talent Holiday Spectacular on December 19.

If the album reaches No. 1, it will give Pentatonix its second leader, following their self-titled album, which debuted atop the Nov. 7, 2015-dated list. A Pentatonix Christmas is the group’s sixth top 10 album overall, and third holiday effort to reach the region, following 2014’s No. 2-peaking That’s Christmas To Me, and the 2013 PTXmas EP, which climbed to No. 7.