LOS ANGELES -
Rapper Meek Mill scored his first No. 1 album on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, far outpacing R&B artist Miguel for the top spot.
Mill's sophomore studio record "Dreams Worth More Than Money" sold 215,000 albums, 222,000 songs and was streamed 14 million times, totaling 246,000 units, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Miguel's "Wildheart" came in at No. 2 with 48,000 units, just ahead of Taylor Swift's "1989," which sold 47,500 units in its 36th week on the chart.
Other new entries to crack into the top ten of the Billboard 200 chart this week include alt-rock band X Ambassadors' "VHS" at No. 7, "Found in Far Away Places" by metalcore band August Burns Red at No. 9 and the soundtrack to Warner Bros' raunchy male stripper film "Magic Mike XXL" at No. 10.
The Billboard 200 chart tallies album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).
Last week's chart-toppers, alt-rock band Breaking Benjamin's "Darkness Before Dawn," dropped to No. 6 this week.
On the Digital Songs chart, which tallies digital single downloads, OMI's summer reggae track "Cheerleader" took the top spot with 170,000 downloads in the past week.
Nielsen SoundScan have modified the sales tracking week, which previously counted albums released Monday through Sunday and released chart results on Wednesday.
Starting next week, the new chart timeline will tally album releases from Friday through Thursday, with charts released the following Monday. - Reuters