Muse, Taylor Swift, And The Rolling Stones All Aiming For Top Five On Billboard 200 Album Chart

This is a good week for album sales and it looks like Muse will top the charts. Billboard reported that Muse was ahead of the pack as of last Friday.

“Rock band Muse is heading for its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. Industry forecasters suggest the British act’s Drones, which was released on June 8 through Helium-3/Warner Bros. Records, could move over 75,000 equivalent albums units in the week ending June 14.”

On Hits Daily Double, which usually predicts the Billboard 200 chart, Muse is ahead, selling 55,161 albums with 78 percent of the reports coming in as of Monday afternoon. This total doesn’t include streaming album equivalents. Of Monsters & Men’s Beneath the Skin is at No. 2 with 39,116 units sold. With streaming included, they will likely end up at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

The Rolling Stones may not be able to release new music that sells, but their reissue of Sticky Fingers shows their music will always be relevant. Billboard expects the Rolling Stones to come in at No. 3 with 30,000 units sold (including streaming equivalents).

Taylor Swift could spend another week in the top-five on the Billboard 200 with 1989. The album is at No. 4 now on Hits Daily Double. Taylor Swift is also trying to beat Wiz Khalifa on Billboard‘s Hot 100 with “Bad Blood.” The song was No. 1 three weeks ago, but Khalifa took back the top spot.

Florence + The Machine could also end up in the top five on the Billboard 200 chart: It is currently at No. 5 on Hits Daily Double and even though only 78 percent of the sales are in, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful is easily beating the No. 6 album. The band can at least be happy that they sold far more in the No. 1 spot than Muse will when they hit No. 1 this week.

Muse’s Drones has received somewhat mixed reviews. The Guardian gave Muse’s album three stars, but weren’t completely impressed.

“It’s the heaviest the band has sounded in some time, and exuberant enough for you to ignore Bellamy’s clunky lyrics. But Drones veers badly off target in its final third.”

The Observer also had mixed feelings about Drones.

“There’s a glaring missed opportunity here to incorporate more musical drone, a rich seam of elegiac, heavy music. Aftermath does start with a faintly eastern hum – the calm after the storm of Revolt, the previous track – but the moment quickly passes.”

It remains to be seen if Drones will be at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 next week. Muse has already dropped to No. 2 on iTunes as of Monday afternoon.

[Photo Credit: Billboard]