'Frozen,' Pharrell Williams Lead Mid-Year SoundScan Charts
With the year half over, the soundtrack to Disney's "Frozen" and Pharrell Williams' "Happy" lead as the year's biggest-selling album and digital song in the U.S., respectively, selling 2.7 million and 5.6 million according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Through the sales week that ended on June 29, the mid-way point of SoundScan's tracking year, "Frozen" is the only album to have sold more than a million copies.
A year ago at this point, the top-selling album was Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience," with 2.04 million. 2014 is only the third year -- and third in a row -- in SoundScan's history (dating back to 1991), where only one album has sold more than a million at the year's mid-way point.
Since 2011, the album that led in sales at the mid-way point ultimately finished as the year's top seller. Adele's "21" was tops in both 2011 and 2012, while Timberlake's "20/20" closed out 2013 as the year's best. So, there's a pretty decent chance that "Frozen" -- especially considering its wide lead over all other albums -- will complete 2014 as the year's biggest album.
So far in 2014, just five albums have sold at least 500,000 copies. A year ago at this point, there were 11.
Animated hits rule both the mid-year albums and digital songs sales charts, as Pharrell's "Happy" (from "Despicable Me 2") is 2014's top-selling song so far.
Two acts have both a top 10 selling song and album this year: Pharrell Williams and Katy Perry. (Though, an honorable mention should go to Idina Menzel, who sees her "Frozen" soundtrack song "Let It Go" rank as the year's fifth biggest seller.) In 2013, there were six shared acts, while in 2012, there were two.
Top 20 Selling Albums, Year To Date 2014
Artist Title Yr to Date Sales
1 Soundtrack "Frozen" 2,696,000
2 Beyonce "Beyonce" 702,000
3 Eric Church "The Outsiders" 642,000
4 Lorde "Pure Heroine" 641,000
5 Coldplay "Ghost Stories" 589,000
6 Various Artists "Now 49" 482,000
7 Luke Bryan "Crash My Party" 455,000
8 Katy Perry "PRISM" 453,000
9 Various Artists "Now 50" 452,000
10 Pharrell Williams "GIRL" 452,000
11 Imagine Dragons "Night Visions" 424,000
12 Eminem "The Marshall Mathers LP 2" 419,000
13 Brantley Gilbert "Just As I Am" 412,000
14 Florida Georgia Line "Here's To the Good Times" 393,000
15 Bruno Mars "Unorthodox Jukebox" 392,000
16 Rick Ross "Mastermind" 362,000
17 Michael Jackson "Xscape" 339,000
18 The Black Keys "Turn Blue" 328,000
19 Various Artists "2014 Grammy Nominees" 309,000
20 Miranda Lambert "Platinum" 305,000
SOURCE: Nielsen SoundScan, year to date sales through the week ending June 29
Top 20 Selling Digital Songs, Year To Date 2014
Artist Title Yr to Date Sales
1 Pharrell Williams "Happy" 5,633,000
2 Katy Perry feat. Juicy J "Dark Horse" 4,004,000
3 John Legend "All Of Me" 3,854,000
4 Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz "Talk Dirty" 3,657,000
5 Idina Menzel "Let It Go" 2,854,000
6 DJ Snake & Lil Jon "Turn Down For What" 2,573,000
7 Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX "Fancy" 2,533,000
8 Bastille "Pompeii" 2,321,000
9 Aloe Blacc "The Man" 2,263,000
10 Pitbull feat. Ke$ha "Timber" 2,189,000
11 Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea "Problem" 2,163,000
12 A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera "Say Something" 2,110,000
13 OneRepublic "Counting Stars" 1,939,000
14 Passenger "Let Her Go" 1,787,000
15 Lorde "Team" 1,754,000
16 Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan "This Is How We Roll" 1,514,000
17 American Authors "Best Day Of My Life" 1,491,000
18 Beyonce feat. Jay Z "Drunk In Love" 1,441,000
19 Avicii "Hey Brother" 1,354,000
20 Eminem feat. Rihanna "The Monster" 1,333,000
SOURCE: Nielsen SoundScan, year to date sales through the week ending June 29 
