Katy Perry celebrated the release of her new album, PRISM on Tuesday with a performance at the iHeartRadio Theater in L.A. And just as expected, the album is headed straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 200 after landing on the first position in iTunes Store Top 10 Albums for the U.S. and the U.K.
“Prism” is Perry’s third album, following 2010’s Teenage Dream which debuted at No.1 in eight countries and remained more than two years on the Billboard 200. “Prism” is set to sell between 270,000 and 290,000 copies in its first week, according to all predictions, which will be a huge improvement from “Teenage Dreams” opening week with 192,000 sales. If Perry achieves such numbers, she will overtake Miley Cyrus and become the best first-week figure for a female artist in 2013. Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz arrived last week with 270,000 sold copies, according to data by Nielsen SoundScan. And the new Billboard 200 charts top 10 will be released on the morning of Wednesday, October 30.
Of course, Katy Perry’s huge success on iTunes is a strong indicator of the sales. Right now, according to figures by iTunes Store, “Prism” tops the top 10 charts in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Ireland, and the Netherlands. In many countries like France, Portugal, Belgium, or Japan the album holds second position. The enormous success of her first single of the album, “Roar” was then followed by an almost complete domination of “Dark Horse” and “Walking on Air” on iTunes. And according to those who have already heard it, “Prism” is full of potential hit singles, which means, the sales will be steady in the following months. According to industry insiders, the album may easily sell better even than “Teenage Dream” which has sold 2.8 million copies in the U.S. so far. It was also the first album by a woman to score 5 No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart – “California Gurls”, “Firework”, “E.T.”, “Last Friday Night”, and the title track.
Digital downloads became one of the strongest drivers of her success. Roar became her 10th No.1 Top 40 track after debuting at No.1 on iTunes in 68 countries. During its first week of release, the single scored 557,024 downloads in the U.S. alone, which was the biggest digital song sales week of 2013.
“Prism” is now available for download on iTunes. The deluxe version contains 16 tracks, including “Roar”, “Unconditionally”, and “Walking on Air”, and sells for $14.99. Of course, fans can also buy the singles for $1.29.
