‘Frozen’ soundtrack ices competition again on Billboard 200

Menzel performs nominated original song "Let it Go" by Lopez and Anderson-Lopez, for the film "Frozen" at the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood
Menzel performs nominated original song “Let it Go” by Lopez and Anderson-Lopez, for the film “Frozen” at the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

(Reuters) – “Frozen,” the soundtrack to Disney’s $1 billion-grossing animated film, on Wednesday earned its 13th nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200 album chart, selling nearly twice the number of copies as its nearest challenger. The soundtrack, which has ridden on the success of the film and its lead single “Let It Go,” sold 106,000 copies last week, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The album has sold 2.6 million copies since its release in November. Classical crossover violinist Lindsey Stirling’s “Shatter Me” debuted on the chart at No. 2 with 56,000 in sales. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne’s “Supernova” landed at No. 3 with 40,000 in sales on its first week on the chart, followed by Christian collective Passion’s live album, “Passion: Take It All,” which sold 30,000 in its debut week. Australian rapper Iggy Azalea’s “The New Classic” dropped two spots to No. 5 with 23,000 in sales in its second week. New entries in the top 10 of the chart include pop duo Timeflies’ “After Hours” at No. 8 with 20,000 in sales, and U.S. metal band Whitechapel’s “Our Endless War” with 16,000 in sales at No. 10. Nickelodeon TV star Ariana Grande’s song “Problem,” featuring Azalea, topped the digital songs chart in its first week. Its 438,000 downloads marked the largest opening week for a song this year, according to Billboard. Total album sales for the week were 4.4 million, a 14 percent decline compared with the same week last year, while sales for the year so far total 84.8 million, off 16 percent compared with the same period last year, Billboard said.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jan Paschal)