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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Billboard Charts

  • Chart Chat 12/30/09: Prelude to the Year-End Wrap Up

    Hey folks, I’ve been out of pocket for just about a week. Not having internet service beyond a Blackberry isn’t fun. However, we’re back and 2010 promises even bigger and better things:

    This week’s chart is the 52nd of the chart year, so get your pads and pencils ready. We’ll be talking about the top sellers of the year very soon. In the meantime…

    Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” logs a fifth week at the #1 spot on the charts, with 510,000 units sold. This brings it’s total to a shade under three million units. It’s the longest running #1 album of 2009.

    Mary J. Blige pops in at the runner-up spot with “Stronger with Each Tear”. This album didn’t have the buzz that her previous two albums had, which explains the sharp dropoff in first week sales. “Stronger” checks in with 330,000 units scanned in its’ first week. 2007’s “Growing Pains” debuted with 629K and ’05’s “The Breakthrough” bowed with 727K. I’m giving the album its’ second listen now and while it’s not bad, it definitely sounds like Mary on autopilot.

    The chart’s only other debut comes from Lil Wayne’s Young Money collective. Despite the star power of Weezy as well as artists like Lloyd, Nicki Minaj and Drake, their “We Are Young Money” compilation debuts at a so-so #9 with 142,000 copies sold.

    Eminem’s “Relapse” gets a huge boost thanks to it’s “Refill” re-release with extra tracks. The album lands at #11 with 128,000 copies sold, bringing its’ total take to 1.7 million copies.

    Each of this week’s Top 16 albums sells over 100,000 copies. It’s worth noting how femme-centric the Top 10 is. In addition to Boyle and Blige, the top ten also hosts Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Lady GaGa, as well as female-targeted male artists like Justin Bieber and Michael Buble. Next week, expect a chart overhaul as the more adult-oriented artists take a tumble down the chart (Boyle might even cede her #1 chart perch to Blige or Alicia Keys) and more youth-oriented artists rise up.

    Here are this week’s Top 20 albums:

    1) Susan Boyle “I Dreamed a Dream”
    2) Mary J. Blige “Stronger with Each Tear”
    3) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
    4) Alicia Keys “The Element of Freedom”
    5) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
    6) Lady GaGa “The Fame”
    7) Justin Bieber “My World (EP)”
    8) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
    9) Young Money “We Are Young Money”
    10) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
    11) Eminem “Relapse”
    12) Lady GaGa “The Fame: Monster (EP)”
    13) Michael Jackson “This is It”
    14) Owl City “Ocean Eyes”
    15) The Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.”
    16) Glee Cast “Glee: The Music Vol. 2”
    17) Various Artists “Now 32”
    18) Rihanna “Rated R”
    19) John Mayer “Battle Studies”
    20) Soundtrack “Alvin & the Chipmunks 2: the Squeaquel”

  • Whitney Looks To #1: Chart Chat 9/9/09

    Whitney Houston’s rehabilitation is complete. Her “I Look to You” debuts at #1 on this week’s Billboard chart with 305,000 copies sold. It’s the best Soundscan week of her career-not counting the “Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale” soundtracks, on which she was a featured artist. Sales should stay pretty healthy, with what promises to be a quite revealing interview with Oprah airing soon.

    Elsewhere in new releases, R&B singer Trey Songz debuts at #3 with his new album, while right behind him stands the Insane Clown Posse. Yes, folks, there are still a lot of Juggalos out there. Other debuts include Chevelle at #6, Pitbull (on the heels of 2 big singles) at #8, The Used (they’re still around?) at #10 and The Black Crowes at #12.

    Next week, look for Jay-Z to crown the Billboard chart with “The Blueprint 3”. Of course, the Beatles reissues that came out today will sell big, although they will not be eligible for the Billboard 200 and will instead appear on the “catalog” and “comprehensive” charts.

    Here’s this week’s Top 20

    1) Whitney Houston “I Look to You”
    2) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
    3) Trey Songz “Ready”
    4) Insane Clown Posse “Bang! Pow! Boom!”
    5) Colbie Caillat “Breakthrough”
    6) Chevelle “Sci-Fi Crimes”
    7) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”
    8) Pitbull “Rebelution”
    9) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
    10) The Used “Artwork”
    11) Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.”
    12) The Black Crowes “Before the Frost…”
    13) Zac Brown Band “Foundation”
    14) Soundtrack “Hannah Montana-The Movie”
    15) Maxwell “BLACKsummersnight”
    16) George Strait “Twang”
    17) Reba McEntire “Keep on Loving You”
    18) Various “Now 31”
    19) Chris Young “Man I Want to Be”
    20) Daughtry “Leave This Town”

  • Chart Chat 6/10/09: The GrooGrux King is On the Throne

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    It’s a good week to be Dave Matthews. His band’s album “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King” makes a grand entrance at the top of the Billboard charts this week. DMB scores the 3rd biggest first week of the year (behind Eminem and U2), with over 424,000 folks picking the album up last week. It’s DMB’s fifth consecutive album to debut at #1 on the charts. Interesting to note that the three biggest sales weeks of the year have come from veterans, all with over 10 years in the industry. Are newer artists just not coming with good music, or is there just a different concept of fan loyalty with the newer generation?

    It’s a pretty big week for debuts, with 311’s new “Uplifter” coming in at #3, the supergroup Chickenfoot at #6, and the new one from Taking Back Sunday right behind at #7. Rancid’s return to the indie label world nets them a #11 debut, Elvis Costello pops in at #13, and Mitchel Musso (I don’t know who he is, but I guess I’ll find out) enters at #19.

    At this time last year, only one album had crossed the million-selling threshold (Jack Johnson’s “Sleep Through the Static”). In what must be good news for the ailing indistry, two albums have passed the million mark so far (Taylor Swift & the “Hannah Montana” movie soundtrack), and Eminem will jump past the million-sold mark next week.

    Speaking of Slim Shady, his much discussed incident with Sasha Baron Cohen wasn’t the only highlight of the MTV Movie Awards. Kings of Leon’s performance catapults them from #15 to #12 on a 50% increase in sales. This is the highest chart position yet for “Only by the Night”, which is already the band’s best selling album. Multiple award winner “Twilight”‘s soundtrack also shows some life, jumping two places to #15 on a 19% increase.

    Kings of Leon have the third biggest increase of the week, following singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson (with a 69% increase) and British soul singer James Morrison, whose sales jump a whopping 232% to send him back onto the chart for the first time in a couple of months.

    Is it too early to consider Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown” a flop? I mean, in this day and age any album that crosses Gold territory in four weeks can’t be a total failure, but I think the general consensus is that better sales out of the gate were expected following the success of “American Idiot”. New single “21 Guns” is right in the pocket of pop and rock radio, so I wouldn’t count these guys out yet.