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  • Chart Chat 11/10/09: Carrie-On To The Top!!

    As expected. Carrie Underwood enters the Billboard Album chart at the #1 position with her new album “Play On”. 318,00 country fans made their way over to the cash registers for this one, making it Carrie’s third consecutive chart topper.  While it’s less than the 527,000 scans her second album, “Carnival Ride” garnered in it’s debut week, it’s about on pace with what her debut, “Some Hearts” scored in it’s first week (314,000). That particular album went on to sell 7 million copies. While I think the chances of that happening again are pretty much nil, it does look like Carrie has a hit on her hands.

    “Play On” is the highest of the 5 debuts in this week’s Top Ten. Andrea Bocelli’s holiday album, “My Christmas” enters at #3 with a healthy 149,000 units sold. Expect this to be the holiday-themed blockbuster of 2009. Right behind it is the first soundtrack for the TV series “Glee” (easily the highest-charted television soundtrack in recent memory). The 32nd version of the “Now That’s What I Call Music” series checks in at #5 with 102K, while Weezer’s latest, “Raditude”, opens up at a mediocre #7 with 66K sold. The Foo Fighters and Slayer also bow in the Top 20, at positions 11 and 12, respectively.

    If you thought people were waiting with baited breath for the return of R&B thrush Amerie, you were wrong. Her Def Jam debut, “In Love & War” starts off at an anemic #46 with 13,000 units sold. Her previous two albums were Gold sellers. It’s safe to say “War” will not follow that trend.

    Thanks to a reissue with bonus tracks, Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” has overtaken Michael Jackson’s “Number Ones” for the title of biggest selling album of 2009. Swift’s album has sold 2.1 million units this year, a scant 30,000 units more than MJ’s 2003 hits package. At this stage, it’s still anyone’s game.

    Over on the digital download side, Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette” opens with a healthy 132,000 downloads, landing at #4 on this week’s chart, behind Owl City’s “Fireflies”, Iyaz’s “Replay” and Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”. For sake of comparison, Chris Brown’s latest, “I Can Transform Ya” sits at #17 in it’s fifth week out.

    Next week, Carrie could score a second week at the top if the dropoff isn’t too sharp. She’ll be competing with the new one from Bon Jovi and a hits package from Britney Spears. Who’ll come out on top? Check back with us in 7 days!! In the meantime, here’s this week’s complete top 20.

    1) Carrie Underwood “Play On”

    2) Michael Jackson “This is It”

    3) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”

    4) Soundtrack “Glee Vol. 1”

    5) Various Artists “Now That’s What I Call Music 32”

    6) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

    7) Weezer “Raditude”

    8) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”

    9) Sting “If on a Winter’s Night”

    10) Soundtrack “Twilight: New Moon”

    11) Foo Fighters “Greatest Hits”

    12) Slayer “World Painted Blood”

    13) Rod Stewart “Soulbook”

    14) Creed “Full Circle”

    15) Jay-Z “Blueprint 3”

    16) Tim McGraw “Southern Voice”

    17) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”

    18) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”

    19) Owl City “Ocean Eyes”

    20) Casting Crowns “Peace on Earth”

  • First Look: Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance”

    I had no use for Lady GaGa just a few short months ago. Her songs were mindless dance-pop, I didn’t think she had any discernible talent, and she was a protege of Akon, one of my least favorite “artists” in any genre. She’s also Perez Hilton-endorsed, and Perez is the gay equivalent of T-Pain, who sets black folks back about 200 years.

    I’ve gotta admit, though, she’s winning me over. First, there was her bizarre VMAs performance. It confused the shit out of me, but it was at least artistic. Then there was her “SNL” performance, during which she actually sang well and played piano, something most of today’s pop divas (hello, Britney) are incapable of doing. Then there’s the fact that thanks to the likes of Christopher Walken and Marlee Matlin, “Poker Face” has buried itself in my head and won’t leave. Yeah, yeah, I’m late. So what?

    Anyway, her label is doing one of my least favorite things ever and re-releasing her album “The Fame” with extra bonus tracks. That pisses me off, because you basically force fans who came out and supported the album the first time around to buy the album again. I think that’s doing your fans a huge disservice. Anyway, the album’s first single is “Bad Romance”. Taken by itself, it’s okay. I mean, the lyrics are clever, but it’s not a great song. This video, though. Man, it’s some kinda surreal. It’s one of those things you can’t turn away from. I give the lady props for having more artistic vision than your average dance diva. I won’t go as far as to call her the next Madonna yet, but she has promise.

    Wish there was something that could be done about her butterface, though.

     

  • Oops, I Left One Off…

    In my roundup of this week’s new releases, I inadvertently left off Britney Spears’ “The Singles Collection”. As advertised, this compilation rounds up Ms. Spears’ numerous hit singles and adds the new single “3”, which made history when it became the first single this decade not by an “American Idol” finalist to debut at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart.

    I really didn’t mean to leave this off, but I can’t help but think this collection is completely unnecessary. After all, Britney’s LAST greatest hits collection appeared just five years ago, in 2004. Since then, Britney’s released a grand total of two studio albums. Is it really time for another Britney anthology, or is this being put out knowing that her extremely gullible fans will purchase anything with her name on it?

    Let me say for the record, I’m not a Britney hater. She has a couple of good songs and is fairly harmless as far as pop singers go, but enjoying her music isn’t the same as saying she’s talented. Because she isn’t. And I’m not a pop music basher, as anyone who regularly reads this site is well aware of. But…I guess I don’t understand the Britney fixation. How has someone like this lasted for a decade? I mean, let’s face facts. She’s not especially attractive (and her public exploits have completely destroyed any residual cuteness from her early days), she can’t sing a lick, and her dancing and public persona are both on loan from Madonna. Granted, these same arguments have been used against Madonna and Janet Jackson, but there’s really no comparison. While neither of them have Patti LaBelle-style vocals, they can both carry a tune. They generally write and co-produce their own music (although considering neither of them has released a great album this decade, that may not be saying much), and they also both sing live at their shows, with the exception of the odd major production number. I’ve never seen Britney in concert, but I can’t recall the woman singing live in any of the myriad TV performances she’s done, and it’s widely stated that she doesn’t sing live during her shows. I would love for someone to isolate her mic at a show, put it on Youtube and see if anything actually comes out of her mouth.

    ‘Cause I’m sorry, if I’m spending money to see someone in concert, I don’t want the record to be playing in the background. For that, I could have easily just stayed my ass home.

    But perhaps the last laugh is on her fans, those people who’ve paid hundreds of dollars to see her show. As noted social critic John Mayer tweeted not too long ago: ““If you’re shocked that Britney was lip-syncing at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you.”