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Kid Cudi’s WZRD and jazz artist Robert Glasper score high debuts

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Welcome to week No. 23 at the top of the U.S. pop charts, Adele. The Grammy star maintains her grip on the pole position of the chart, as her ‘21’ again faces no significant challengers. In its 54th week of release, the album sold more than 246,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has now sold more than 7.8 million copies.

As ‘21’ approaches 8 million copies sold, Adele’s debut, ‘19,’ also continues to find a new audience. The album is at No. 7 this week, having sold an additional 37,000 copies. The 2008 album has crossed the 2 million mark. Meanwhile, Adele’s ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ is the sixth-best selling digital single in the U.S., having sold 144,000 downloads this week.

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The week’s top debut, and indeed the only debut inside the top 10, is Kid Cudi’s psychedelic rock project WZRD. The self-titled album sold more than 66,000 copies. There was a bit of controversy in the release, as last week Kid Cudi took to Twitter to blast his label, Universal Republic, for shipping only 55,000 units to retail. There still should be plenty on the shelves, as 45,000 of ‘WZRD’s’ sales were for digital albums.

Other notes from this week’s charts:

Genre-hopping jazz pianist Robert Glasper enters the chart at No. 15 with his latest, ‘Black Radio.’ The album sold just shy of 21,000 copies, and it makes the first time Glasper has reached the top 200 on the mainstream pop chart. Glasper has long blurred the lines between jazz and hip-hop, and his latest features contributions from the likes of Erykah Badu, Mos Def and Lupe Fiasco. Glasper appeared with Fiasco last week on the ‘Late Show With David Letterman.’

The top-selling digital track in the U.S. for the second week running is Fun’s ‘We Are Young,’ with Janelle Monáe. The track sold an additional 302,000 downloads this week, and has sold more than 1.4 million copies to date. The theatrical rock band’s second album, ‘Some Nights,’ is at No. 12 on the pop chart. It sold 25,000 copies this week, and has moved 95,000 in two weeks of release.

Noise rockers Sleigh Bells didn’t fare quite as well in their second week. The act’s ‘Reign of Terror’ falls from No. 12 to No. 78, having sold about 7,000 copies in its second week. Thus far, the album has tallied about 35,000 sales.

Are boy bands about to make a comeback? If ‘Glee’ gets a vote, the answer would likely be yes. U.K. boy band the Wanted has the No. 2 selling digital track in the U.S., as ‘Glad You Came’ sold more than 206,000 downloads. The song was featured on a recent episode of the Fox series.

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Local hip-hop-inspired dance act the Far East Movement is readying a new album for release this spring, and lead-off single, ‘Live My Life,’ is already the eighth-best selling digital track in the U.S. The cut sold 127,000 copies in its first week of release, and features some additional star power with a guest vocal from teen star Justin Beiber.

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-- Todd Martens

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