This keeps getting echoed by the alarmingly aggressive Bruno fans, but y'all are completely ignoring context and circumstance. Yes he's never done huge first week numbers, but he should have increased despite any decline in climate. Yes his leads don't smash out the gate, but 24k has clearly failed to make an impact - whilst LOOH was turning around early in its chart life (me being one of the very few who supported & thought it'd become a hit back then).
The last two albums were also actually kind of good. I'm all good with opinions and debates, but this one is underwhelming. There are "hits," as in songs structured enough for radio. But they're mediocre. Might perform just as well as the single is, but won't really be on anyone's radar aka failing to translate into one purchasing his whole CD. Which he should be doing easily by now when his contemporaries are having little issue.
Its the opposite for me.
His past two albums, didnt grow on me as a whole. While this latest one is just instant and I like every song.
For artists who have led multiple T10 peakers in a year, 2011+:
Adele millions [15]
Taylor 1 mil+ [14]
Drake 852k*
Eminem 792k [13]
Bieber 521k [15]
One Direction 402k [15]
Justin Timberlake 350k [13]
Weeknd 326k [15]
Katy Perry 286k [13]
Pink 281k [12] A mystery how big her next one will be after this big gap.
Miley Cyrus 270k [13] I'm guessing the next one will drop quite a bit.
Lil Wayne 217k [13]
Ed Sheeran 210k [14]
Imagine Dragons 172k [15]
Lady Gaga 170k*
Sam Smith 166k [14] I wonder how big his fanbase is now.
Maroon Five 164k [14]
Chris Brown 162k [15]
Twenty One Pilots 134k [15] I wonder if their next one will get a boost from their hits since.
Ariana Grande 129k*
Rihanna 124k*
Bruno around 110k*
Britney Spears 88k*
Selena 85k [15]
Meghan Trainor 84k*
Fetty Wap 75k [15]
Fun 70k [12]
Iggy Azalea 52k [14]
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis 51k*
Wiz Khalifa 45k*
Pitbull 38k [14]
Flo Rida 31k [12]
David Guetta 29k [15]
Jason DeRulo 22k [15]
Carly Rae Jepsen 16k [15]
Chainsmokers 9k for an EP*
#1 hit after #1 hit, two multi-platinum albums, two SuperBowls, biggest Song of the Decade just last year, a current hit, and being an A-list name yet he still doesn't have a fanbase that rushes to buy his album when it's out more than 5 Seconds of Summer, Future, and Zayn.
You'd think after all these years he wouldn't have to rely on releasing 5 singles and having them all rotated non-stop to do well overall... and you know, had an actual fanbase ready to buy his stuff.
It's very messy. Even Meghan Trainor did 200k+ first week, off two hits, so what does that say about the mark he's left after all these years doing barely 150k?
While first weeks numbers aren't everything, they're representative of how big your fanbase is and how much momentum your return has. Looking at his first week, well...
I Stan him and I didn't even know. 
I wonder how Ed and Sam Smith will do...
