After scoring his first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke now has his sights set on the top slot of the Billboard 200 albums chart.
The new Billboard 200 chart’s top 10 will be revealed on the morning of Wednesday, August 7.
Industry sources say that Thicke’s new album, also titled “Blurred Lines,” is a likely lock to debut atop the tally next week. The set is his sixth studio effort and is estimated to sell around 135,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Aug. 4.
“Blurred Lines” should snare Thicke his best sales week for an album since 2008’s “Something Else” bowed with 137,000 at No. 3, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Thicke last charted an album with 2011’s “Love After War,” which debuted and peaked at No. 22 off a 41,000 start. His three previous albums, released between 2007 and 2009, all peaked in the top 10. His debut set, 2003’s “A Beautiful World,” topped out at No. 152.
If “Blurred Lines” holds at No. 1 on the Hot 100 next week, Thicke could become the first artist to simultaneously top both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 since the charts dated Dec. 8, 2012. That week, Rihanna’s “Diamonds” spent its second week atop the Hot 100, while her “Unapologetic” album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Heading for the runner-up slot on the Billboard 200 chart next week is rock band Five Finger Death Punch. The group’s new set, “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1,” should sell about 100,000. It should mark the largest sales week yet — and highest chart rank — for the band. The group’s current biggest frame was set when its last album, 2011’s “American Capitalist,” debuted and peaked with 90,000 at No. 3.
Other albums aiming for top 10 debuts on next week’s chart include: Tech N9ne’s “Something Else” (55,000), Backstreet Boys’ “In a World Like This” (50,000) and Emblem3’s “Nothing to Lose” (40,000).
