--- description: The Lyon clan scores a surprising win against the Queen of Pop title: 'Empire' Soundtrack Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b20e67018dd1b4/698784288e0601951b45ad62/ap968147983669-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Empire_ Soundtrack Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard by [Isabella Biedenharn / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Isabella Biedenharn / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2015 6:34 PM CUT  Cover image of the original soundtrack from Season 1 of "Empire." Cover image of the original soundtrack from Season 1 of "Empire."Columbia Records—AP by [Isabella Biedenharn / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Isabella Biedenharn / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2015 6:34 PM CUT Big news for the biggest TV hit of the season: _Empire_’s soundtrack debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts, beating out Madonna’s _Rebel Heart_, which came out at No. 2. Industry forecasters were [watching the throne closely](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6495224/madonna-vs-empire-billboard-200-number-one "undefined"), with King Lear Lucious and the Queen of Pop battling for the top spot—even though _Empire_ wasn’t even a contender until the last minute. As _Billboard_ reports, a week before the TV soundtrack’s release, experts predicted sales of around 25,000\. But after the release, that prediction rose 500 percent to 125,000 units—the same number predicted for _Rebel Heart_. _Empire_ (Columbia Records) [has sold 130,000 units](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6502441/empire-soundtrack-number-one-madonna-number-two "undefined") as of March 15, while _Rebel Heart_ (The Live Nation/Interscope) underperformed slightly with 121,000\. Billboard’s metrics take into account album sales, streaming equivalent albums (SEA) and track equivalent albums (TEA). The _Empire_ soundtrack is the first TV soundtrack to have a No. 1 debut since 2010, when _Glee_ put three albums at the top. _Rebel Heart_ is Madonna’s 21st top 10 album. The Lyons may have beat Her Madgesty in the short term, but only time (and 20 more soundtrack albums) will tell who ultimately prevails. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/18/empire-soundtrack-debuts-no1-billboard-charts-beating-madonna "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3749575/empire-soundtrack-tops-billboard/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3749575/empire-soundtrack-tops-billboard/"},"headline":"Empire Soundtrack Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard","datePublished":"2015-03-18T18:34:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:15:42.121Z","description":"The Lyon clan scores a surprising win against the Queen of Pop","url":"https://time.com/3749575/empire-soundtrack-tops-billboard/","keywords":["Television","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b20e67018dd1b4/698784288e0601951b45ad62/ap968147983669-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Isabella Biedenharn / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1b20e67018dd1b4/698784288e0601951b45ad62/ap968147983669-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cover image of the original soundtrack from Season 1 of \"Empire.\"","caption":"Cover image of the original soundtrack from Season 1 of \"Empire.\"","creditText":"Columbia Records—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3749575/empire-soundtrack-tops-billboard/","name":"Empire Soundtrack Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard"}}]}] ```