Billie Eilish returned with her follow-up, Happier Than Ever, less than two years after her 2019 debut, Where Do We Go When We Fall Asleep? The album was expected to be another hit for the young singer, and it delivered.
With 238,000 copies sold, Happier Than Ever debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart on August 14. There were 153,000 pure album sales and 84,000 streaming equivalent album units in that total. After Taylor Swift’s Evermore and Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the pure album sales total is the third highest for an album released this year.
Billie Eilish’s sophomore album also sold 73,000 vinyl copies in its first week, putting it in second place behind Taylor Swift’s Evermore for 2021. Happier Than Ever’s vinyl sales were so high that it would have remained at No. 1 if just vinyl sales were recorded for the first week.
Other significant albums in this week’s top 10 include the late Prince’s posthumous album Welcome 2 America, which debuted at No. 4, and Isaiah Rashad’s The House Is Burning, which debuted at No. 7 as the top rap album of the week and his highest-charting album.
