A surge of cross-country release week shows, packed mall appearances, and a Friday performance on ABC’s Good Morning America helped propel Handwritten, the debut album from Shawn Mendes (released April 14th), to a triumphant #1 Soundscan charts and #1 iTunes charts debut.
First week sales of 119,000 copies, makes Shawn the youngest artist in nearly five years to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. In the UK, the album peaked at #9 on the iTunes album chart and was one of the highest charting new releases of the week.
The release week campaign, which included performances at malls across the country, as well as sold out headline shows, kicked off at Mall Of America in Minneapolis where thousands of fans turned out, then continued at New Jersey’s Woodbridge Mall, before wrapping up in Dallas’ Irving Mall, where Shawn was also headlining a sold-out Sunday show at McFarlain Memorial Auditorium.
In total, nearly 15,000 fans attended Shawn’s release week activities. Next week, April 29th, Shawn will celebrate Handwritten’s #1 debut & launch his new single “Stitches” with an eagerly anticipated return appearance on NBC’s Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Prior to that, he is performing on & nominated as Best New Artist at this year’s Radio Disney Music awards, airing April 26th on Disney Channel.
