It's official: Fox TV's breakout hit series Empire crashes in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as its soundtrack debuts atop the list after a battle was brewing between it and Madonna's new Rebel Heart album.
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 Empire soundtrack was released March 10 through Columbia Records and bows with 130,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 15, according to Nielsen Music. It's the first TV soundtrack to debut at No. 1 since 2010, when three different Glee albums arrived atop the list. (Both Empire and Glee air on Fox TV.)
Madonna's Rebel Heart, also issued on March 10, starts in the No. 2 slot with 121,000 units. The Live Nation/Interscope Records release is Madonna's 21st top 10 album.
The rest of the new Billboard 200 chart's top 10 will be revealed on Wednesday, March 18.
The fact that she managed to actually outsell the soundtrack of the biggest new show on TV with an album that leaked 3 months in advance yet the new rules stopped her from snatching the top spot
Good company, nothing to be ashamed of.
