The cover of Rihanna’s new album, ‘Unapologetic’.

The trick about album sales is that those figures don’t reflect causal factors. Luckily, those of us with the ability to read and understand how the US charts work, are able to analyse weekly numbers, such as those amassed by Rihanna’s Unapologetic LP during the last seven days.

Amazon hosted a special sales cut on Christmas Eve (December 24th) where several major titles were made available for just $1.99. Among those albums were this week’s Billboard 200 #1 set, Taylor Swift’s Red, and Rihanna’s Unapologetic. The latter vaulted an impressive twelve spots to #7 on the lineup.

Unapologetic sold 68K copies this week for a new total of 553K. Meanwhile, on the Billboard Hot 100, the album’s lead single, “Diamonds”, slipped just one spot to #3. By the way, the song has spent thirteen weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Thanks for misrepresenting the genre, Billboard!

See the other leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. Taylor Swift – Red – 241K (total: 3.11)

2. Various Artists – Les Miserables – 136K (total: 179K)

3. One Direction – Take Me Home – 120K (total: 1.34 M)

4. Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox – 110K (total: 480K)

5. T.I. – Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head – 74K (total: 253K)

6. Imagine Dragons - Night Visions – 70K

7. Rihanna - Unapologetic – 68K (total: 553K)

8. Mumford & Sons - Babel - 68K (total: 1.46 M)

9. Lumineers - Lumineers - 61K

10. Various Artists – Pitch Perfect – 58K

Billboard Hot 100

1. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”

2. Taylor Swift – “I Knew You Were Trouble”

3. Rihanna – “Diamonds”

4. Lumineers - “Ho Hey”

5. Justin Bieber – “Beauty & a Beat (Ft. Nicki Minaj)”

6. PSY – “Gangnam Style”

7. Ke$ha – “Die Young”

8. Maroon 5 – “One More Night”

9. Phillip Phillips – “Home”

10. Macklemore and Lewis – “Thrift Shop”

Watch the video for Rihanna’s “Diamonds” below:

Thoughts?