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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Billboard Charts

  • Chart Chat 5/27/09: Eminem, The Real American Idol?

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    In the biggest chart no-brainer of the year, Eminem debuts at #1 with “Relapse”, which scans 608,000 units in it’s first week. It’s by far the biggest debut week of the year, although it’s the slowest start for an Eminem studio album since “The Slim Shady LP” debuted in spring 1999. Granted, the music industry was in a much different place then. To put things into perspective, if the year was to end today, “Relapse” would be 2009’s #9 album with only 6 days of sales. Em should easily enjoy a second frame at #1 with no major releases out this week (although his partner in controversy Marilyn Manson should enjoy a Top 5 debut), although his reign will come to an end when the new Dave Matthews Band album comes out 6/2.

    Elsewhere on the albums charts, it’s a sea of debuts and “American Idol”-led jumps. The top 10 hosts 7 new albums. In addition to Eminem, there’s the latest hits collection from Kenny Chesney at #3, Method Man & Redman’s “Blackout 2” at #4, Dane Cook at #5, Busta Rhymes at #6, Tori Amos at #9 and newcomer Kate Voegele at #10.

    A little further down on the charts, a couple of collections by this year’s American Idol champ and runner-up debut, and to no one’s surprise, Adam Lambert’s collection (#33, 16K) outduels Kris Allen’s (#50, 10K), although it looks like Kris has the edge when it comes to individual tracks.

    The chart’s biggest gainers this week also relate back to the “Idol” finale. Rod Stewart’s “Definitive” collection is up nearly 400% to 10,000 units, landing at #52 on the chart after being off of it the previous week. You might remember that Rod the Bod performed a generally atrocious version of “Maggie May” on the show. David Cook also finds himself the beneficiary of some “Idol” goodwill. His self-titled debut is up 111% to land at #29 with 17K in sales.

    On the other side of the coin, it’s bad news for Cam’ron and Paul Wall, as both rappers slide over 60% in sales in their albums’ respective second weeks. Killa Cam drops from 3-35, while Paul Wall plummets from 15-64. Yikes, folks. Might hip-hop be the genre suffering the most from illegal downloading? Or are people just reacting quicker to bad music?

  • Chart Chat 5/21/09: It’s a Green Day

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    As expected, Green Day takes the #1 spot on this week’s Billboard charts with their new album, “21st Century Breakdown”. The pop-punk legends sold 215,000 units of the album in only three days of release, matching up favorably with 2004’s “American Idiot”, which sold a shade under 250K in its’ first full week out.

    After Green Day on the chart? Tumbleweed City, folks. The “Hannah Montana” Soundtrack is #2 with 68K sold, and after that, no other album approaches the 50K mark. As usual, “American Idol” is the biggest catalyst behind the chart’s biggest moves. OneRepublic’s 18-month old “Dreaming Out Loud” re-enters the chart at #178 with a 120% increase over the previous week’s sales, and Katy Perry is another big gainer, as a 25% increase pushes her up 25 spots on the chart and also zooms her album “One of the Boys” past the million sales mark. Conversely, looks like bad times are ahead for former platinum-selling rappers Cam’ron and Paul Wall. Cam’s “Crime Pays” opens at an impressive #3, but only scans 43K in it’s first frame, while Wall’s “Fast Life” sells barely more than half of Cam’ron’s total to land at #15. And to think that Paul Wall had a #1 album just a couple short weeks ago.

    Next week, it’s all about Slim Shady, as Eminem’s “Relapse” is scheduled to bump Green Day out of the top spot with the biggest sales week of the year, which could approach 650,000 units sold. Stay tuned, we’ll have Em’s final numbers in our Chart Chat column next week.

    Here are this week’s Top 20 Albums

    1) “21st Century Breakdown” Green Day

    2) “Hannah Montana Soundtrack” Various Artists

    3) “Crime Pays” Cam’ron

    4) “The Fame” Lady GaGa

    5) “Unstoppable” Rascal Flatts

    6) “Together Through Life” Bob Dylan

    7) “Fearless” Taylor Swift

    8) “Epiphany” Chrisette Michele

    9) “Deeper Than Rap” Rick Ross

    10) “Fantasy Ride” Ciara

    11) “Twilight Soundtrack” Various Artists

    12) “Now That’s What I Call Music 30” Various Artists

    13) “Dark Horse” Nickelback

    14) “Only by the Night” Kings of Leon

    15) “Fast Life” Paul Wall

    16) “In a Perfect World…” Keri Hilson

    17) “Foundation” Zac Brown Band

    18) “Wide Open” Jason Aldean

    19) “Townes” Steve Earle

    20) “All I Ever Wanted” Kelly Clarkson

  • Chart Chat 5/7/09: Chillin’ Like Bob Dylan

    dylanSurprising no one, Bob Dylan makes his second straight entry at the top of the Billboard charts with his latest album “Together Through Life”. The album scans just under 125,000 units in it’s first week. The remainder of the chart is pretty mellow, with a couple of baby bands (Playing for Change and Heaven & Hell) debuting at #10 and #8, respectively, and the remainder of the Top 10 remaining relatively static.

    Lady GaGa continues her upward momentum, as “The Fame” rises to #5 this week with a 1% increase to 40K scanned. With 775,000 copies having crossed record store shelves (or the virtual equivalent), GaGa should be crossing Platinum territory very soon.

    “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars” continue to drive sales, as three of the four biggest increases of the week are due to performances on those shows. Taylor Hicks’ “The Distance” re-enters the chart at #180, with a 148% increase over the previous week’s sales. Robin Thicke and Jamie Foxx also make big increases, and Foxx’s “Blame It” single reaches a new peak on the singles chart, landing at #2 behind The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow”.

    The biggest drop of the week comes from Depeche Mode, whose “Sounds of the Universe” falls from 3-18 on a 73% decrease to 22,000 units. However, this week’s epic fail has to go to Mike Jones (who??). The Texan rapper, who scored platinum sales several years ago with his debut, “Who is Mike Jones?” can only manage a #12 debut with his latest album, “The Voice”, which opens with a weak 25K.

    Next week, expect Ciara and Chrisette Michele to challenge for the #1 spot. Ciara might have an edge due to the fact that she’s performing on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. The week after that, the real fireworks start, as Green Day’s album will hit the charts, followed by Eminem a week after that.