The Grateful Dead is back on the charts this week with yet another one of their live recordings. The group has created an incredible business by releasing new live albums from their past every few months, and all of them become sales wins. This frame, the band nearly secured another No. 1 on a Billboard chart they’ve ruled in the past…but they were blocked by the biggest name in the industry.
Dave’s Picks Vol. 50: Palladium, New York City, NY 5/3/77 debuts on four Billboard charts this week. It’s a quick winner thanks to its healthy sales sum–one which was almost enough to send it right to the top of one tally.
The Grateful Dead’s latest release opens at No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart. That tally looks only at the bestselling titles in the country each frame. The Billboard 200, which is the more closely-watched albums chart in the U.S., also includes streaming activity.
Dave’s Picks Vol. 50 launches in the runner-up rung on the Top Album Sales chart with 20,390 copies sold, according to Luminate. The set was not made available to stream or consumed in any other manner, so every unit it shifted came solely from purchases.
While it may appear that the Grateful Dead was close to hitting No. 1 on the Top Album Sales ranking–and they were when looking only at chart positions–the race wasn’t actually very tight. Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department holds atop the tally for a second frame. That title sold another 106,982 copies–more than five times what the jam rockers managed.
Dave’s Picks Vol. 50 nearly became the Grateful Dead’s third No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart. That’s a fairly low sum for a group that has broken into the highest tier with as many projects as they have throughout the years. They’ve now accrued 40 top 10s on this one ranking, with this latest offering helping them hit that milestone.
In addition to the Top Album Sales list, the new live set from the Grateful Dead also debuts on three other tallies this week. The title is new to the Billboard 200 at No. 32. It also blasts onto the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart at No. 7 and the Top Rock Albums roster at No. 6.
