Soundscan Surprises, Week Ending 9/29

Back-catalog sales numbers of note from Nielsen SoundScan.

The definition of “back catalog” is: “at least 18 months old, have fallen below №100 on the Billboard 200 and do not have an active single on our radio.”

My Chemical Romance is celebrating a tenth anniversary reissue of The Black Parade and it just FLEW off the shelves. They sold 16,906 copies of it last week. I dunno how loyally you’ve been reading this column but we haven’t seen numbers like that since Prince died or My Morning Jacket sold seventeen-thousand copies for still-unclear (to me) reasons. It’s like three times more copies than any of the previous number ones from the last month or two! Also, Disturbed re-emerged as a band and are playing Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on October 7, so of course they sold a bunch of copies of Sickness.

Speaking of scary clowns, Margot Robbie recently revealed that she is a huge metal fan and went to a Slipknot show, so maybe that’s why they sold a bunch of copies of their self-titled album? Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage was reissued last week so both the deluxe edition and the original version sold a couple thousand copies (slightly more people opted for the deluxe). What’s going on with Pink Floyd, though? The first three Google results were about Pompeii, Corey Feldman, and Donald Trump—so you tell me! Apparently Apple is moving its UK headquarters to the Battersea power station in South London that has famously appeared in a lot of PF paraphernalia.

Finally, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are duking it out the way New York and New Jersey always have and always will.

1. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE BLACK PARADE,THE 16,906 copies

2. DISTURBED SICKNESS 6,158 copies

9. SLIPKNOT SLIPKNOT 3,192 copies

10. JOEL*BILLY THE HITS 3,029 copies

11. SPRINGSTEEN*BRUCE GREATEST HITS 2,952 copies

20. FLEETWOOD MAC MIRAGE (DELUXE) 2,269 copies

25. FLEETWOOD MAC MIRAGE 2,128 copies

28. PINK FLOYD MEDDLE 1,977 copies

108. PINK FLOYD ATOM HEART MOTHER 1,127 copies

113. PINK FLOYD OBSCURED BY CLOUDS 1,111 copies

(Previously.)