Now that's what you call music? According to Billboard, Now That's What I Call Music: 43 will debut atop the Billboard Top 200 chart when sales numbers are released next week. This would be the sixteenth album in the Now franchise to debut in the top spot on the chart.
The latest edition is filled with summer 2012 radio hits like Katy Perry's "Part of Me," Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend," One Direction's "One Thing," and Song of the Summer "Call Me Maybe," from Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen. It will unseat Rick Ross' latest album, God Forgives, I Don't, at the head of the Billboard class.
The Now franchise has been burning up the North American charts since 1998. As the Los Angeles Times reported last year, over 80 million copies of the albums have been sold in the United States. The only band with more chart-topping Billboard albums than Now are The Beatles.
Interestingly enough, the Now albums are really a throwback to when CDs were actually purchased. Per the Times, "more than 90 percent of sales for the last four compilations, according to SoundScan, have been through physical CDs." That helps explain who is buying these, especially in an era of Spotify, Pandora, Songza and iTunes, where most of the hit singles on the Now albums are widely available.
For more on the Now sales, head over to Billboard.com.
[via Billboard]
