Louis Armstrong’s new seasonal compilation album Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule debuts in in the top 10 across multiple Billboard charts (dated Nov. 26), including Top Holiday Albums.
Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule bows at No. 9 on Top Holiday Albums, and launches in the top 10 on Jazz Albums (No. 4), Traditional Jazz Albums (No. 4), Top Album Sales (No. 7), Top Current Album Sales (No. 6) and Vinyl Albums (No. 7). It also starts at No. 122 on the Billboard 200, becoming his highest charting album since Hello Dolly in 1965. That album debuted on the list dated May 16, 1964 at No. 78, spent six weeks at No. 1 (June 13-July 18) and continued charting well into the following year, closing out its initial chart run at No. 106 on the list dated Oct. 9, 1965.
The new 11-track set is promoted as Armstrong’s “first-ever Christmas album,” though the late artist (who died in 1971) has previously released a number of holiday compilations alongside other acts that feature most of the album’s tracks (such as Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella & Louis Christmas). Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule was released through streaming services and digital retailers on Oct. 28, and bowed on CD and vinyl on Nov. 11.
Notably, Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule includes a previously unreleased recording from Armstrong, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas”), recorded shortly before his death. It is his first newly released track in over 20 years.
Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule earned 9,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 17, according to Luminate. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 7,500 — Armstrong’s largest sales week for any album in over 20 years. He last had a larger sales week in February 2001, when the best-of compilation Ken Burns Jazz – The Definitive Louis Armstrong sold 8,000 copies (No. 142 on the Feb. 17, 2001-dated Top Album Sales chart).
Elsewhere on the Top Holiday Albums chart, Michael Bublé’s Christmas holds atop the list for a 38th nonconsecutive week. Familiar seasonal albums like Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (rising 3-2), Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (4-3), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (5-4) and Pentatonix’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (6-5) round out the top five on the list.
The Top Holiday Albums chart ranks the 50 most popular seasonal albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each units equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram. The seasonal Top Holiday Albums returned for another festive season with the Oct. 22-dated list and will continue as part of Billboard’s weekly chart menu until it dashes away in January 2023.
Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums and the Billboard 200 rank the week’s most popular overall jazz, traditional jazz, and albums across all genres, respectively, by equivalent album units. Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales and Vinyl Albums list the week’s top selling overall albums, current albums (not catalog, or older titles) and vinyl albums, respectively.
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