Justin Bieber, 18, has topped the Billboard chart for the 4th time with this year's biggest debut. The Canadian pop singer sold 374,000 copies of 'Believe' during its introduction. It topped 'Looking 4 Myself' by Usher who happens to be Bieber's mentor.
'Believe' is not the year's biggest seller though. The year's top spot still belongs to Adele's 21 which was able to sell 730,000 copies one week after her Grammy Award win. Billboard's associate director, Keith Caulfield, said that Bieber is showing remarkable numbers considering the difficulties the music industry is facing nowadays.
"That Bieber can have the biggest opening week of the year says that he's doing a good job. It's always tough making that transition from tweeny-teeny pop star to young adult. It's a challenge, and he seems to be doing quite well so far," Caulfield said.
Sales for Bieber's 'Believe' falls short of expectations which was between 410,000 and 440,000. Sales predictions have been scaled back since Sunday. Dave Bakula, Neilson's senior vice president of entertainment analytics, said "I don't think he's underperforming. This is a great start. He's never been one of those artists who goes out with a record-breaking first week. He sells week after week."
Bieber has been promoting 'Believe' extensively and is the teen pop star's first bid at adult music.
