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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Billboard Charts

  • All Hail The King

    It’s a country music week on Billboard’s album chart, due to the broadcast of the CMA Awards last week. Just about every album that takes a jump on this week’s chart comes from that genre, with the key beneficiary being new artist Taylor Swift, , who jumps from 26-8 with her self-titled debut. Taylor won the evening’s Horizon award, given to promising young entertainers in the biz.
    The other big chart news comes from the top, where Jay-Z enters with “American Gangster”. This marks Jay’s tenth Number One album, which ties him with Elvis Presley for second place on the list of artists with the most trips to the top of this particular chart. Quite an amazing feat!
    On the singles chart, it’s all T-Pain, all the time. The Florida vocalist (I’m loath to call him an actual singer), earns yet another Top 10 single this week as his protege Flo-Rida jumps to the #6 position with “Low”. That gives T-Pain a “featured credit” on teh #1, 6, 7 and 8 songs this week. Maybe some day I’ll get the appeal.
    Early reports suggest that Alicia Keys will join Britney Spears and DMX next week as the only artists to top the charts with their first four releases.
    And isn’t it weird to see Finger Eleven in the Top 10 (and Good Charlotte a little further down in the Top 40) with the knowledge that their albums flopped hard?
    This Week’s Top 10 Charts (courtesy Billboard communications and Nielsen Soundscan)
    Top 10 Albums:
    1)American Gangster-Jay-Z
    2) Long Road Out of Eden-The Eagles
    3)The Ultimate Hits-Garth Brooks
    4) Exclusive-Chris Brown
    5) Carnival Ride-Carrie Underwood
    6)Noel-Josh Groban
    7)Blackout-Britney Spears
    8)Taylor Swift-Taylor Swift
    9)I-Empire-Angels & Airwaves
    10) B.A.R.S. (The Barry Adrian Reese Story)-Cassidy
    Top 10 Singles:
    1) Kiss Kiss-Chris Brown feat. T-Pain
    2) No One-Alicia Keys
    3) Apologize-Timbaland feat. OneRepublic
    4) Crank That-Souja Boy Tellem
    5) Bubbly-Colbie Caillait
    6) Low-Flo-Rida feat. T-Pain
    7) Good Life-Kanye West feat. T-Pain
    8) Cyclone-Baby Bash feat. T-Pain
    9) Stronger-Kanye West
    10) Paralyzer-Finger Eleven

  • Fly Like The Eagles

    So, at the 11th hour, Billboard made an adjustment to it’s chart reporting system, which allowed the new Eagles album (“Long Road Out of Eden”), which is available only through Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and their respective websites, to chart. End result? The Eagles album scans well over 700,000 units, making it easily the #1 album in the country and another feather in the cap of the band with the biggest-selling album of all-time (although personally I will forever mark it with a Barry Bonds-ian asterisk because it’s a greatest hits album and not an album of new material). But I digress…
    Britney’s meltdown wasn’t exactly good for publicity. Not that 290,000 units isn’t a handsome sum in this day and age, but it’s nearly 2/3 off the pace of what her last studio album did in it’s first week. While this development may disturb the folks at Britney’s label, something tells me that Brit is a little too out of it to really care at this point.
    On the singles chart, Chris Brown holds on for a third week at #1 with “Kiss Kiss”, which should bode well for his new album, which will be one of three highly-anticipated releases to chart next week, along with Jay-Z and Garth Brooks. Meanwhile, the song’s featured artist, T-Pain, has THREE songs in the Top Ten, a pretty amazing accomplishment (especially for someone so minimally talented)
    A little further down the chart, Fergie stands at #20 with “Clumsy”, which is the FIFTH Top 20 single from her album “The Dutchess”, giving her more Top 20 singles from one album than any female artist this decade. I’d imagine her bandmate, will.i.am, must be a little steamed, considering his solo effort, “Songs About Girls”, has completely fallen off the chart in just a little over a month.
    This Week’s Top Ten Singles & Album Charts (provided and owned by Nielsen Entertainment)
    Billboard Albums:
    1. “Long Road Out of Eden” The Eagles
    2. “Blackout” Britney Spears
    3. “Carnival Ride” Carrie Underwood
    4. “Avenged Sevenfold” Avenged Sevenfold
    5. “Everything is Fine” Josh Turner
    6. “Raising Sand” Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
    7. “Unbreakable” Backstreet Boys
    8. “Noel” Josh Groban
    9. “Vivire-The Best of Andrea Bocelli” Andrea Bocelli
    10. “Still Feels Good” Rascal Flatts
    Billboard Singles:
    1. “Kiss Kiss” Chris Brown feat. T-Pain
    2. “Apologize” Timbaland feat. One Republic
    3. “No One” Alicia Keys
    4. “Crank That” Soulja Boy Tellem
    5. “Bubbly” Colbie Caillat
    6. “Stronger” Kanye West
    7. “Cyclone” Baby Bash feat. T-Pain
    8. “Good Life” Kanye West feat. T-Pain
    9. “Hate That I Love You” Rihanna feat. Ne-Yo
    10. “The Way I Are” Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson

  • High School Musical-Something Like A Phenomenon?

    So, everyone knows about record sales being in the crapper…yadayadayada.
    But the fact is…people are still running in to buy certain things. It’s just that phenomenons are fewer and further between.
    This week, the High School Musical 2 Soundtrack marks it’s fourth consecutive week on top of Billboard’s Album Chart, with sales at a very healthy 170,000 copies. It’s sold nearly 1.5 million copies in four weeks. This comes after the soundtrack to the first movie sold over 4 million copies and was the top selling album (not soundtrack, mind you…over all album) of 2006.
    It’s still in the Top 40 18 months later.
    Me, I’m not a Disney channel watcher. I can’t vouch for why this is so successful, especially in light of failed past Disney projects (anyone old enough to remember The Party back in the early Nineties?) AND the fact that albums by members of HSM’s cast have either underwhelmed or flopped miserably (Vanessa Hudgens is the only cast member to go Gold on her own). It might be because it’s a family movie and a family soundtrack, and the best-selling albums historically have been albums the entire family can listen to…or at least are kid-friendly (see: Carrie Underwood, Nickelback, et. al.).
    Of course, there might be a little extra hubbub nowadays since the news popped about the nudie pictures of Ms. Hudgens. The fact that the news appeared not to affect sales at all speaks to how trivial the whole deal is (she’s 19…get real people!). My main curiosity is…how long is this juggernaut going to last? And how long is Disney going to continue to milk this? Because if these albums continue to sell, I can see High School Musical: The 10-Year Reunion coming to a store near you in 2016.
    Here are this week’s Top Ten albums (courtesy of Billboard Communications)
    1. High School Musical 2 Soundtrack: Various Artists
    2. The Dutchess: Fergie
    3. Hannah Montana 2 Soundtrack: Meet Miley Cyrus: Miley Cyrus
    4. The Altar & The Door: Casting Crowns
    5. Bone Palace Ballet: Chiodos
    6. Hairspray Soundtrack: Various Artists
    7. Now That’s What I Call Music 25: Various Artists
    8. All The Right Reasons: Nickelback
    9. Back To Black: Amy Winehouse
    10. Minutes To Midnight: Linkin Park