From Billboard.com
December 14, 2012 9:00 EST 

Folk/rock quartet Mumford & Sons earn top Rock Album applause for a second consecutive year, although with a different leading title than last year. Babel is 2012’s No. 1 Rock Album, highlighted by a debut week of 600,000 copies sold (Oct. 13), marking the largest sales frame for a rock act since 2008. In 2011, the group topped the year-end Rock Albums survey with Sigh No More. The act is the first since Billboard began crowning a yearly top Rock Album in 2006 to manage back-to-back No. 1 rankings.
_____ 

In addition to its No. 1 Rock Album ranking, Babel also takes the No. 7 spot on the overall Billboard 200 Best Albums of 2012 chart, No. 3 on the Digital Albums chart, and No. 1 on the Alternative, Folk, and Independent charts. Slow-burning sensation Sigh No More still ranks high on the charts three years after its release, coming in at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 Best Albums of 2012 chart, No. 13 on the Digital Albums chart, No. 2 on the Folk Albums chart (effectively giving Mumford & Sons the top two albums in the category), and No. 7 on both the Rock and Alternative charts.

From Billboard.com:
by Keith Caulfield, L.A.
October 02, 2012 9:00 EDT 

It’s official: Mumford & Sons’ “Babel” has earned the biggest debut of any album this year in the U.S.

The group’s second album sold 600,000 in its first week — according to Nielsen SoundScan — and becomes the rock quartet’s first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It’s also the first No. 1 for its record label, Glassnote Records.

Here are some of the amazing statistics on “Babel’s” first week: 

Largest Debut Sales Week of 2012: With 600,000 sold, “Babel” easily trumps the first-week racked by Justin Bieber’s “Believe” (374,000), which had owned the largest debut of the year until now. “Believe” falls to second place in terms of the 2012’s biggest starts, followed by Madonna’s “MDNA” (359,000) and P!nk’s “The Truth About Love” (280,000).

Biggest Sales Week for a Rock Album Since 2008: The album notches the best week for a rock set since AC/DC’s “Black Ice” bowed at No. 1 with 784,000 on the Nov. 8, 2008 chart.

Mumford & Sons has scored four top 10 singles on the Alternative airplay chart and its current single, “I Will Wait,” reaches No. 1 on the Rock Songs airplay tally this week. The group’s debut album, “Sigh No More,” spent six weeks atop the Rock Albums chart and has been a near-constant presence on the tally since it was released in February of 2010.

Biggest Sales Week for RED Distribution: ”Babel’s” bow garners RED Distribution its largest sales week ever. It surpasses the 394,000 that was racked by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “The Art of War” (Ruthless/Relativity) in its No. 1 debut on the chart dated Aug. 16, 1997. (“Babel” was released on Gentlemen of the Road/Glassnote Records and distributed by RED Distribution — Sony’s indie distribution arm.)

“Babel” is RED’s first No. 1 since Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” (TBD/ATO) jumped to the top of the list (flying from No. 156 to No. 1) on the Jan. 12, 2008 chart…

Second Largest Sales Week of 2012 (Overall): ”Babel’s” big debut is the overall second-largest this year, in terms of copies sold in a single week, second only to Adele’s “21.”

Second Largest Sales Week for an Independently Distributed Album in SoundScan History: Only one other indie-distributed set in SoundScan history (1991-present) has sold more in a week: Eagles’ Walmart-exclusive “Long Road Out of Eden.” It bowed with 711,000 at No. 1 on the Nov. 17, 2007 chart.

Second Largest Digital Sales Week for an Album: With 420,000 downloads sold, “Babel” scores the second-biggest frame for a digital album in history. Only Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” which moved 662,000 downloads in its first week in 2011, sold more digital copies in a week. (A chunk of Gaga’s figure was driven by Amazon MP3’s sale pricing of the set at 99-cents for two days during release week.) In third place on the all-time biggest download weeks is Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV,” which sold 362,000 digital copies its first week last year.

Sixth-Straight Year an Indie Album Has Hit No. 1: Since 2007, there has been at least one independently-distributed album that has ruled at No. 1. “Babel” is the first such indie set this year, and follows Cake’s “Showroom of Compassion” and Mac Miller’s “Blue Slide Park” in 2011. In 2010, three indie sets topped the list, while there was one each in 2009, 2008 and 2007.

Amidst all of the excitement over “Babel’s” debut, Mumford & Sons’ first album, “Sigh No More,” continues to rack up big sales. The set has been on the Billboard 200 since it debuted on the March 6, 2010 chart, and it hasn’t left the top 75 since July of 2010. So far, “Sigh No More,” which peaked at No. 2 on the chart, has sold 2.5 million in the U.S.
_____
Congratulations, Mumford & Sons! 

From Billboard.com
by Keith Caulfield, L.A.  |   September 26, 2012 5:10 EDT 

Mumford & Sons is heading for a massive week. The rock quartet’s new album Babel is on course to sell as much as 600,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Sept. 30 — so say industry sources. The set, released yesterday (Sept. 25), will easily debut atop the Billboard 200 next week, giving the band its first chart-topper.

The new Billboard 200 chart’s top 10 will be revealed on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 3.

Babel’s forecasted sales should give the band the biggest debut week this year, surpassing Justin Bieber’s Believe launch with 374,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan. Mumford & Sons will also tally the largest sales frame for any rock album (debut or otherwise) since AC/DC’s Black Ice stormed in with 784,000 at No. 1 on the Nov. 8, 2008 chart.

Further, Babel, released on Gentlemen of the Road through Glassnote Records, will nab the largest sales week ever for RED Distribution and the first No. 1 for Glassnote. RED — which is Sony’s indie distribution arm — saw its previous highest week when Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s 1997 album The Art of War (Ruthless/Relativity) sell 394,000 in its debut at No. 1.

Babel’s digital sales are through the roof, according to sources. It will likely lock in the second-largest sales week ever for a digital album, as it could sell more than 400,000 downloads. The biggest digital week ever for a set belongs to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which moved 662,000 downloads in its first week. (A chunk of that figure was driven by Amazon MP3’s sale pricing of the set at 99-cents for two days during release week.) 

Babel is Mumford & Sons’ second studio album, and follows 2010’s Sigh No More. The latter has sold 2.5 million in the U.S. according to SoundScan and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The new album’s lead single, “I Will Wait,” is bulleted at No. 2 — its so far peak — on the Alternative Songs chart. The tune debuted and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August…
_____
Click through to read the rest of the article.

Click here to preview all the tracks on Babel.