Nielsen Soundscan

Linkin Park, the hard rock band from Aguora Hills, has proved to have quite the staying power. The band's fifth studio album, "Living Things," has placed the group in a familiar spot: No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts. "Living Things" sold 223,000 copies in its first seven days of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to just narrowly become the country's bestselling album this week. Linkin Park rose from the ashes of the dreaded rap-rock scene of the late '90s (think Limp Bizkit)

Justin Timberlake's comeback album has sold nearly 1 million units its first week out. Nielsen SoundScan announced Tuesday that the singer's "The 20/20 Experience" has moved 968,000 units. It is the 19th album in Nielsen's 22-year history that has sold more than 900,000 albums in a single week. "20/20" is Timberlake's third album and the follow-up to his multiplatinum, Grammy-winning 2006 album, "FutureSex/LoveSound. " The new CD features the pop hit "Suit & Tie. " FOR THE RECORD: Justin Timberlake sales: A Quick Takes item in the March 27 Calendar section about first-week sales for Justin Timberlake's album "The 20/20 Experience" said that it was the 19th album in Nielsen SoundScan's 22-year history to sell more than 900,000 albums in a single week.

Taylor Swift's "Red" has been an undisputed blockbuster since it was released in October. The album hasn't left the top 10 and it has been in the No. 1 spot for much of its run. There's only one reason why Swift's "Red" isn't the biggest pop album of 2012: It had to contend with the biggest pop album of 2011.  Adele's "21," released in the U.S. in February 2011 by XL/Columbia, is the top-selling album of the year for the second year running....

He's already hit the top spot in the United Kingdom, where "The 20/20 Experience" entered the album chart Sunday at No. 1 -- and in the process became the fastest-selling disc of the year so far there. Now Justin Timberlake is almost certain to repeat the feat in the United States when Billboard reveals its new charts on Wednesday, reflecting U.S. sales through Sunday night. But can the pop superstar sell 1 million records in a week? REVIEW: Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" Writing Sunday in Billboard , Keith Caulfield said music-industry sources were estimating that first-week sales of "The 20/20 Experience" will wind up between 950,000 and 975,000.

Taylor Swift couldn't quite beat out Adele for the top-selling album of 2012, but Swift 's "Red" is heading into 2013 on a high note. The album retains its position at the top of the U.S. pop charts, her seventh week overall in the No. 1 spot.  Swift's Big Machine effort "Red" sold an additional 241,000 copies this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving it a to-date total of 3.1 million copies sold.  As reported earlier today, Swift's...

When Taylor Swift's album "Red" was released last week, the pop singer's most ardent fans wasted no time downloading the digital edition on iTunes, vaulting it to No. 1 on the online retailer's Top Albums chart in a quick 36 minutes. Those who wanted to hold a CD with her latest 16 songs were also able to snap it up as early as 12:01 a.m. Oct. 22 at thousands of 24-hour Walgreens and Wal-Mart stores. By daybreak though, the options had multiplied: A deluxe 22-track edition was available at Target, and if the music alone wasn't enough, Swift aficionados could also pick up a custom pair of Keds "Red" sneakers ($49.99)

The tally is in, and Taylor Swift's “Red” album sold 1.208 million copies during its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the biggest single-week sales figure in more than a decade. It's Swift's second consecutive album to top the 1-million mark in its debut week, joining - and surpassing - her 2010 album “Speak Now,” which bowed with 1.047 million copies out of the gate. "They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week," Swift tweeted shortly after final figures were released.

He's already hit the top spot in the United Kingdom, where "The 20/20 Experience" entered the album chart Sunday at No. 1 -- and in the process became the fastest-selling disc of the year so far there. Now Justin Timberlake is almost certain to repeat the feat in the United States when Billboard reveals its new charts on Wednesday, reflecting U.S. sales through Sunday night. But can the pop superstar sell 1 million records in a week? REVIEW: Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" Writing Sunday in Billboard , Keith Caulfield said music-industry sources were estimating that first-week sales of "The 20/20 Experience" will wind up between 950,000 and 975,000.

Top 5 albums: A list of the five top-selling albums published in Business on Monday and Thursday did not reflect final data from Nielsen SoundScan for the week ended June 7. Updated sales data added Redline's "Chickenfoot" album to the list at No. 4, pushing Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" from No. 4 to No. 5; Hannah Montana's album, "Hannah Montana: The Movie," which had been No. 5, dropped off.

Interscope Records is No. 1 -- with an asterisk. The Vivendi Universal-owned label just locked up the title as the nation's top seller of new hits so far this year, though not by cranking out another blockbuster album. Instead, Interscope executives directed Nielsen SoundScan, the music industry's top market research firm, to credit Interscope with sales of an estimated 8 million albums released in the last 11 months by DreamWorks Records, a label Vivendi plans to acquire.

Pearl Jam plans to release a new studio album later this year. Speaking to Rolling Stone , guitarist Mike McCready said the Seattle band is "working on demos right now" for the follow-up to 2009's "Backspacer," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for the rock album Grammy Award. Pearl Jam has "seven songs that are relatively completed," McCready said. "But then we have an additional 15 ready to go aside from any that [frontman] Eddie [Vedder] brings in, so we'll weed through those.

The Grammys gave out awards in 81 categories Sunday, but it may be a full week or two until we know who some of the real winners were. The performance-heavy telecast is largely just one  3½-hour concert, and if past Grammy Awards are any indication, it can lead to major sales victories for those who appear.  Last year, for instance, after Adele's "21" was named album of the year, she managed to earn the biggest sales week of her career, as...

Taylor Swift couldn't quite beat out Adele for the top-selling album of 2012, but Swift 's "Red" is heading into 2013 on a high note. The album retains its position at the top of the U.S. pop charts, her seventh week overall in the No. 1 spot.  Swift's Big Machine effort "Red" sold an additional 241,000 copies this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving it a to-date total of 3.1 million copies sold.  As reported earlier today, Swift's...

Taylor Swift's "Red" has been an undisputed blockbuster since it was released in October. The album hasn't left the top 10 and it has been in the No. 1 spot for much of its run. There's only one reason why Swift's "Red" isn't the biggest pop album of 2012: It had to contend with the biggest pop album of 2011.  Adele's "21," released in the U.S. in February 2011 by XL/Columbia, is the top-selling album of the year for the second year running....

Taylor Swift's “Red” appeared to be the music gift of choice among last-minute shoppers, posting a sixth week in the No. 1 slot in the final week before Christmas and adding another 276,000 copies to its total, which is closing in on 3 million. Rapper T.I. came in with the highest chart debut of the week, his new “Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head” landing at No. 2 with 179,000 copies, just edging out Bruno Mars' “Unorthodox Jukebox,” which drops one slot to No. 3 on second-week sales of 178,000 copies.

Once again the top of the charts belongs to Taylor Swift. The country pop phenomenon has landed atop the Billboard 200 this week with her latest omnipresent set of love and heartbreak, “Red,” which moved an additional 167,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. Swift unseats soul-pop diva Alicia Keys, whose latest album, "Girl on Fire," slipped to No. 7 after moving 77,000 units. For Swift's “Red” -- which benefited from an aggressive promotional campaign that didn't include making it available for online streaming -- this is the fourth non-consecutive week that the disc is No. 1. Last week it was announced the album's lead single, “We Are Never Getting Back Together," scored a Grammy nomination for record of the year during the prime-time special, which Swift co-hosted with LL Cool J. “Red's” return to the top of the charts shut out a number of new releases from the pole position, including Wiz Khalifa and Ke$ha.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE is listed at No. 1 again on the nation's album charts this week, although it's not clear exactly how many CDs he sold -- or how many anyone else sold, for that matter -- because of a problem with incomplete reports, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the company that tracks sales. SoundScan issued an advisory stating that the new chart was based in part on extrapolations due to missing information from a "data supplier in the retail chain strata."

This week the Top 10 on the U.S. album chart included three takes on "White Christmas. " It's that time of year, when classic titles such as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra catalog return to the charts, and younger artists jump straight into the Top 10 with their bids at writing the next holiday classic. Trends come and go, but if there is one sure thing in the music business, it's this: Holiday albums sell. Rod Stewart has a hit with his "Merry Christmas, Baby," an album that's gone as high as No. 3 and has sold more than 475,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While Adele is busy celebrating her cavalcade of 21s (her album “21” just became the 21st album to sell 10 million copies since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking retail sales 21 years ago), R&B-pop star Rihanna is rolling in lucky 7s. Her seventh album, “Unapologetic” has  given the Barbados-born singer her first No. 1 collection on the Billboard 200 album chart - seven years after the release of her debut set, “Music of the Sun.” She's also on the road with what she has dubbed her “777 Tour.” “Unapologetic” sold 238,000 copies last week, which also represents the biggest sales week to this point for Rihanna, who until this week held the record for the musician with the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without a No. 1 album, as noted by Billboard's Keith Caulfield . “Unapologetic” bumps last week's top-selling album, One Direction's “Take Me Home,” to the No. 3 slot, as the British boy group's sophomore outing sold another 176,000 copies, behind Taylor Swift's “Red,” holding on at No. 2 with 185,000 copies, up 28% from the previous week.