Music Biz 2012 Artist of the Year Katy Perry Debuts at #1 with ‘Witness’

James Donio, President of the Music Business Association (Music Biz), commented on this week’s sales numbers issued by Nielsen (published in Billboard) and BuzzAngle Music (published in HITS Daily Double):

“We witnessed her star-power early on and presented her with our 2012 Artist of the Year Award. Since then Katy Perry has continued to roar with an appearance at the Super Bowl and now another chart topper this week with her third album “Witness.” The album tops both the  Nielsen and BuzzAngle Music charts, moving over 180,000 album equivalent units to edge out our 2016 Breakthrough Artist Award winner Halsey’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. This is the first week the in more than a year that the Billboard 200 has seen back-to-back No. 1s by women and we couldn’t be prouder to have acknowledged their rise to stardom and potential impact to the future of the business so early in their careers. Will our lady Katy remain at the top of the chart next week or will she be edged out by Lorde’s Melodrama? Only time will tell.”