Taylor Swift, ‘Les Miz’ start 2013 at the top of the charts

Taylor Swift couldn’t quite beat out Adele for the top-selling album of 2012, but Swift‘s “Red” is heading into 2013 on a high note. The album retains its position at the top of the U.S. pop charts, her seventh week overall in the No. 1 spot.

Swift’s Big Machine effort “Red” sold an additional 241,000 copies this week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving it a to-date total of 3.1 million copies sold.

As reported earlier today, Swift’s “Red” was the second-best selling album of 2012, behind Adele’s “21.” All told, album sales for 2012 were down about 4% compared with those of 2011.

Yet Swift did quite well with holiday week shoppers. Her album, for instance, was discounted to $1.99 on online retailer Amazon, purchases of which Billboard estimates accounted for nearly 30% of “Red’s” sales.

It’s worth nothing that it is Billboard policy to not typically count sales of albums that sell for less than $3.99 toward its charts -- unless they happen after an album has been available for four weeks. With “Red” in its 11th week, discount sales were fair game.

Also, Swift’s latest single, “I Knew You Were Trouble,” is the top-selling digital track of the week. The cut sold 582,000 downloads, besting out Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” which sold 497,000 downloads.

Sales of digital singles typically skyrocket in the days after Christmas, as fans want to either cash in gift cards or load up new devices. A whopping total of 48 songs sold more than 100,000 downloads this week, compared, Billboard reports, with just 10 last week week.

The soundtrack to “Les Misérables” may not have a fan in Adam Lambert, but it’s at No. 2 this week on the pop chart. The soundtrack arrived on the chart last week at No. 33, but experienced a major gain with the Christmas Day opening of the film. Sales this week topped 135,000 copies; in two weeks, the collection has sold more than 178,000 copies.

Another soundtrack makes an entry into the top 10 this week. The audio companion to “Pitch Perfect” jumps from No. 45 to No. 10, buoyed by the release of the film on home video as well as a reissue of the album. The “Pitch Perfect” soundtrack sold 58,000 copies this week, up from about 32,000 last week. To date, it has sold 212,000 copies.

The top 5 on the U.S. pop chart was rounded out by One Direction’s “Take Me Home” at No. 3 (120,000 copies), Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” at No. 4 (110,000 copies) and T.I.’s “Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head” at No. 5 (74,000 copies).

ALSO:

Album sales are down, but Adele sales are still hot

How a new song found its way into ‘Les Miserables’

Adam Lambert fans flames again with latest ‘Les Miz’ comments

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