That may have been the worst pun I’ve ever made in my life.
So, as the headline suggests, Canuck crooner Michael Buble holds at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart with “Crazy Love”. The album sells 203,000 units in it’s first full week of release. It debuted early after his label pushed the release date up 4 days. I remember reading somewhere (of course, I can’t find the article now) that said that he and Norah Jones are the only artists in history to debut at #1 without having had a single Top 40 hit. Interesting.
Three albums debut in the Top 20 this week. The “New Moon” soundtrack enters at #2 with 115,000 copies sold. Of course, “New Moon” is the latest edition in the “Twilight” series. The “Twilight” soundtrack was a smash, selling over 2 million copies. It will be interesting to see if this soundtrack does as well. All indications point to it, considering the sales numbers are this high with a month till release. The other debuts in the Top 20 come from alt-rock legends The Flaming Lips (at #8) and R&B singer Mario (#9).
The Black Eyed Peas return to the Top Ten with a flourish. “The E.N.D.” jumps from #23 to #6 this week, thanks to rapidly increasing airplay for their latest single, “Meet Me Halfway”, which is #9 on the singles charts this week. Another act with a hot single to watch out for is Owl City. Thanks to the success of the single “Fireflies” (which my buddy Paul turned me on to, thanks!!), the one-man band project jumps from #32 to #20 this week.
It’s beginning to look a LOT like Christmas! Holiday albums from Bob Dylan (#23) and David Archuleta (#30) debut on this week’s chart.
On the singles side of things, Britney Spears drops out of the top spot after a single week with “3”. The racy single slips to #5 in its second week on the charts. Jay Sean’s “Down” advances one spot to reclaim the #1 spot after yielding to Britney last week. Aside from the previously mentioned Black Eyed Peas jump, the other major news comes from John Mayer, who scores his highest Hot 100 debut ever with “Who Says”. John’s gonna have to count on a lot of downloads if he wants this to hit the top-radio’s not gonna be so crazy about a song whose first line is “who says I can’t get stoned?” Somewhat strangely, although many people think of John as a radio darling, he has never had a Top 10 hit. “Say” peaked at #12, “No Such Thing” stalled at #13 and “Waiting for the World to Change” ran out of gas at #14.
Below the Top 20, Chris Brown blasts 52-27 with his latest single, “I Can Transform Ya”. We forgive easy, don’t we?
Next week, the “New Moon” soundtrack will do battle with Tim McGraw for the chart crown. We’ll see who wins in our next Chart Chat column.
Oh, here’s this week’s Top 20 albums. Scroll down to the end to see a special treat.
1) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
2) Various Artists “Twilight-New Moon Soundtrack”
3) Jay-Z “The Blueprint 3”
4) Barbra Streisand “Love is the Answer”
5) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
6) Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)”
7) “Fearless” Taylor Swift
8) “Embryonic” The Flaming Lips
9) “D.N.A.” Mario
10) “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” Mariah Carey
11) “Sonic Boom” Kiss
12) “American Ride” Toby Keith
13) “Dear Agony” Breaking Benjamin
14) “Foundation” Zac Brown Band
15) “I Look to You” Whitney Houston
16) “Brand New Eyes” Paramore
17) “Number Ones” Michael Jackson
18) ‘Black Gives Way to Blue” Alice in Chains
19) “Only by the Night” Kings of Leon
20) “The Fame” Lady Gaga
In honor of the Black Eyed Peas’ new single, let’s retreat back to the year 1987, when another singer scored a huge hit with a song called “Meet Me Halfway”. That singer? Mr. Kenny Loggins.