The Monkees To Score Highest Billboard Debut In 48 Years

When the Billboard charts come out next Tuesday, there is going to be a name in the top twenty that has been seen since 1968, The Monkees.

Their new album, Good Times!, is projected to have sales of 24,100 copies according to Hits Daily Double, putting them at number 8 on their Sales Only chart. Add in streaming equivalent sales and they go to 25,000, which should put them in the mid teens when the final charts are released.

Let’s put the pure Sales figure into perspective. That’s about 1,500 copies more than Ariana Grande’s new album sold in its second week, almost 10,000 more than Meghan Trainor’s latest sold in its third frame and just short of 12,000 more than Eric Clapton’s sophomore week with I Still Do.

As far as where the album stands in the Monkees catalog, the band had four straight number 1 albums in 1966 and 1967 with The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd.. Their fifth album, 1968’s The Birds, The Bees & the Monkees peaked at number 3 and then the floor fell out. Their movie Head was a disaster and the soundtrack only went to number 45. 1969’s Instant Replay went to 32 and that was their last non-compilation top 40 hit until this coming week.

To be complete, we should note that two compilations did do well on the charts in later years, Then & Now…The Best of the Monkees (1986 / #21) and The Best of the Monkees (2003 / #20) but it has been a full 48 years since a studio album of new material has made the top twenty.

Outside of the Monkees, there are no other new albums by veteran artists in the Hits Daily Double Sales + Streaming Top 50 although Prince is at 18 (The Very Best of Prince) and 33 (Purple Rain), Keith Urban is at 26 (Ripcord) and Eric Clapton is at 37 (I Still Do). Bob Dylan’s Fallen Angels is at 33 on the Sales chart with 6,900 sold but has dropped out of the top 50 when streaming is added.

The final charts will be released by Billboard next Tuesday.