The late country icon George Jones is remembered on the Billboard charts this week, following his his death on April 26.
Country music legend George Jones dies at 81
As Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week ended on April 28, Billboard's new sales charts reflect only three days since Jones' passing. (SoundScan provides data to Billboard for its music chart rankings.) On the Billboard 200 albums chart, Jones logs his highest-charting set ever on the tally, as the 1998 release "16 Biggest Hits"debuts at No. 42 with a 441 percent gain (9,000 copies sold in the week, up from less than 1,000 a week ago).
While a titan on our country charts, Jones never went higher than No. 53 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, with his 1999 album "Cold Hard Truth."
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Jones additionally dots the Billboard 200 this week with the 1987 compilation "Super Hits," debuting at No. 56 with 7,000 (up from 1,000 copies a week ago). Also arriving: "The Essential George Jones" at No. 92 (5,000, up from basically nothing the week previous) and "Hits I Missed . . . And One I Didn't" at No. 183 (3,000, up from 1,000 a week ago).
Jones' catalog of albums sold 35,000 last week -- up 1,002 percent from 3,000 the week previous.
In terms of digital songs, Jones sold 149,000 downloads last week -- up from 5,000 the week previous (a gain of 2,739 percent). Jones sold more songs this past week than he did in all of 2013 up until his death (91,000).
His biggest selling song last week was his classic hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which debuts on Country Digital Songs at No. 15 with 34,000 (up from 1,000 a week ago). His second-biggest tune was "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes," with 11,000 (up from basically nothing a week ago).