Pink tops the Billboard 200 chart for the very first time this week, but she will have to move aside next week for Mumford & Sons.
The group's second album Babel, which is on course to top the UK artist albums chart on Sunday, is forecast to sell as many as 600,000 copies in the States during its first week. That would make it the market's biggest first-week seller of the year, overtaking the 374,000 tally for Justin Bieber's Believe.
Ahead of Babel's US albums chart debut, the group's first album Sigh No More, which peaked at 2 in the UK and US, moves up 30-29 in its 131st week on the Billboard 200. Babel's lead-off single I Will Wait, meanwhile, reverses its decline to progress 73-45 on the Hot 100.
Mumford's own expected first US chart-topper is preceded by the first Billboard 200 No 1 from Pink who arrives at the summit on the back of 280,000 sales of The Truth About Love. That is the third biggest opening week of the year behind Bieber's album and Madonna's MDNA, which began with 359,000 sales before slumping to a record second-week decline. It is also the highest first-week sales achieved by Pink, beating the 220,000 figure for 2001's M!ssundaztood.
Pink's album is one of six debuts in the Top 10 with the Kanye West presented compilaton Cruel Summer new at 2 after selling 205,000 copies, The Killers' Battle Born entering at 3 with 113,000 sales and Carly Rae Jepsen's first abum Kiss selling 46,000 copies to start at 6. Also new to the Top 10 are Grizzly Bear whose Shields debuts at 7 with 39,000 sales and Ben Folds Five with a first ever album in the top tier as nearly 30,000 sales of The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind are enough to begin in 10th position.
Having debuted at 1 last week, Dave Matthews Band's Away From The World slips to 4 with sales down 77% to 62,000 as Little Big Town's Tornado drops 2-5 with a 55% sales dip to 50,000. Bob Dylan's Tempest falls 3-8 as sales slip 38% to 35,000 and the Avett Brothers' The Carpenter is down 4-9 with a 69% sales decline to 30,000.
With The xx's second album Coexist slipping from its debut of 5 last week to 15, Adele's 21 is once again the top UK album as it holds in 12th place. Meanwhile, 28 weeks into its run, One Direction's Up All Night could be heading out of the Top 20 for the first time as it drops 15-20.
On the Hot 100 Ed Sheeran's The A Team reaches another new peak as it climbs 61-52, while there continues to be steady business for his album +, which gently slips 58-64 in its 15th week on the survey. Muse's Madness also hits a new Hot 100 peak, rising 82-79, while Olly Murs featuring Chiddy Bang's Heart Skips A Beat holds at 96 after two weeks.
PSY's Gangnam Style has every chance of topping the UK singles chart this weekend and it could be about to do the same in the States as it vaults 11-2 on the Hot 100 and becomes the top download seller with 301,000 copies sold last week. The previous top seller, Taylor Swift's We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, drifts 2-4 on the Hot 100 as Maroon 5's One More Night spends one more week at No 1, Fun's Some Nights holds at 3 and Pink continues at 5 with Blow Me (One Last Kiss). Top-ranked Brit Alex Clare falsl 8-9 with Too Close.
US album sales were 6.1% up on the week last week and 2.7% higher than the equivalent week in 2011 at 5.42 million units, while 212.72 million albums have been sold so far this year, 4.6% lower than at this point in 2011.
One-track download sales will this week break the billion barrier in the States for the year, having risen to 985.97 million units last week. That is 5.9% higher than the yearly total at this point in 2011. One-track sales last week were up 2.8% on the week to 25.53 million units, while 13.3% better than the equivalent week 12 months ago.
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