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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Billboard Charts

  • Chart Chat 4/22/09: The Ascension of Hannah Montana

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    It’s a good time to be Miley Cyrus. Not only is she achieving film success with “Hannah Montana”‘s soundtrack, but the movie’s soundtrack rises to #1 in its’ third week on the Billboard charts, scanning over 133,000 copies. This catapults the album past Gold status, with about 554,000 copies sold in four weeks.

    The chart’s light with debuts this week, as things relax a bit following the big Easter rush. Diddy’s Day26 settle for a #2 debut with their “Forever in a Day” album, scanning just over 113,000 units. The only other debut in the Top 50 comes from rock band Silversun Pickups, who are new at #7 with 43K.

    Most albums on this week’s chart nosedive in sales this week, but there are a select few that buck the trend. Kings of Leon’s American breakthrough, “Only by the Night”, moves up 31-18 on a 4% increase to 20K, while other albums that show staying power include Darius Rucker’s “Learn to Live” (+6%) and 3Oh!3’s “Want” (+10%). Jennifer Hudson’s performance on “American Idol” last week spurs a 36% jump in sales for her eponymous debut, which moves 103-42 on this week’s chart.

    On the singles side, the biggest news is a #3 debut for Eminem on Hot Digital Songs with “We Made You”. The Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” and Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” hold the top two positions.

    Next week, Rick Ross should lead the charts, with expected high debuts from the likes of Depeche Mode and Asher Roth.

    This week’s Top 20 albums (courtesy of Billboard Communications)

    1) Soundtrack “Hannah Montana: The Movie”

    2) Day26 “Forever in a Day”

    3) Rascal Flatts “Unstoppable”

    4) Soundtrack “Twilight”

    5) Various Artists “Now 30”

    6) Jadakiss “The Last Kiss”

    7) Silversun Pickups “Swoon”

    8) Lady GaGa “The Fame”

    9) Jason Aldean “Wide Open”

    10) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

    11) Diana Krall “Quiet Nights”

    12) Keith Urban “Defying Gravity”

    13) Keri Hilson “In a Perfect World…”

    14) Nickelback “Dark Horse”

    15) Prince “Lotusflow3r”

    16) U2 “No Line on the Horizon”

    17) Carrie Underwood “Carnival Ride”

    18) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”

    19) Kelly Clarkson “All I Ever Wanted”

    20) The-Dream “Love vs. Money”

  • Chart Chat 4/16/09: We’re Country!!

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    How scary is it that we’ve completed almost four months of 2009 and NOT ONE album has hit the million mark in sales yet? Actually, only 7 albums have passed the 500,000 mark. If that’s not a sign that there’s some serious problems going on, I don’t know what is.

    However, this week we have reason to celebrate! For the first time in 2009, sales last week were higher than sales for the same week in 2008, due to the ACM Awards as well as the Easter holiday. That leads to some nice and robust numbers on this week’s chart (which would have been an ordinary Top 10 in 2003, but I’m just sayin’…).

    As expected, country trio Rascal Flatts debuts at the top spot with their new album “Unstoppable”. It’s their fourth #1 album, and it boasts the second biggest debut of the year, scanning 351,000 units, second only to U2’s first week total earlier this year. However, let’s put that into perspective. That total is less than half of what their “Me & My Gang” album did just three years ago.

    Elsewhere on the album chart, Jadakiss debuts at a surprising #3 with his third album, “Kiss of Death”. I thought people had forgotten about the guy, but his Roc-a-Fella debut proved that the former LOX member could still move units. The week’s final big debut comes from country star Jason Aldean. Aldean, who is easily the most popular indie label country artist around, enters at #4 with his third album “Wide Open”.

    The rest of the Top 10 includes the “Hannah Montana” soundtrack at #2 (expect this to make a run at #1 next week after Miley Cyrus’s “American Idol” appearance), the 30th installment of the “Now That’s What I Call Music” series is #5, Taylor Swift, who still has this year’s top selling album,  moves back up to #6, padding her total, while Keith Urban, who had last week’s #1 album, slides down to #7, while the “Twilight” soundtrack hangs around at #8, Prince’s Target exclusive set falls to #9 after entering at #2, and Lady GaGa holds the #10 spot down (can the music business really be in trouble if people are still buying tripe like this?).

    This week’s Epic Fail comes from Shad Moss, who you all know better as Bow Wow. After a run of five consecutive Gold or Platinum albums, his latest “New Jack City Part II”, falls to #43 in only it’s second week on the chart. This is despite the fact that his latest single, “You Can Have it All”, is currently rising up the charts. Ain’t no love left for a kid rapper, I guess. Especially when he doesn’t write his own lyrics.

  • Chart Chat 4/4/09: Now That’s What I Call a #1 Album

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    A lot of folks have been complaining about the dearth of music releases so far in 2009, and I’d be inclined to agree. I can’t remember a year in recent memory when we’ve gotten to April and I’ve only bought maybe 5 new albums (Franz Ferdinand, The Fray, Lily Allen, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Hicks). However, this week’s Billboard album charts features a cornucopia of new albums-12 new ones in the Top 20, actually. It’s the highest number of new releases to land in Billboard’s Top 20 since…well, since ever.

    Leading the pack is the 30th (!) installment of the “Now That’s What I Call Music series”, which debuts just short of 150K. It’s amazing that this series continues to sell when iTunes playlists exist. Right behind is Miley Cyrus with the soundtrack to the “Hannah Montana” movie, and R&B vixen Keri Hilson debuts at #4 with “In a Perfect World…”. Look for this one to stick around for a little while. Allegedly, it’s knee-deep in hit singles. This may end up being my 6th new release purchase of 2009.

    Other debuts in the Top 20 include Papa Roach (yes, they’re still around), at #8, untalented Dipset-affiliated rapper Jim Jones at #9, coountry singer Martina McBride at #10, bone-crunching metal outfit Mastodon at #11, future one-hit wonders Blue October at #13, faded Houston MC Slim Thug at #15, songwriter/half of Big & Rich John Rich at #16, Eric Church (I don’t know who he is either) at #17, and Yanni at #20. Yes, Yanni is still making music.

    The glut of debuts means that there are some pretty prestigious drops on the chart. Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” falls out of the Top 10 for the first time since its’ release last fall. Static-X, however, gets the award for biggest drop on the chart, sliding 16-69 with their latest album.

    In a chart like this, it’s weird for an older album to actually move up considerably, but Adele’s “19” does. The Grammy winner for Best New Artist and her Gold album shoots from 41-23 on this week’s chart.

    The holdovers in the Top Ten include the “Twilight” soundtrack, which holds at #3 thanks to the recent DVD release of the film, Kelly Clarkson, who slides to #5 after two weeks at #1, U2 slides 2-6, while Lady GaGa drops two spots to #7.

    Speaking of Lady GaGa, she becomes the first artist in 10 years (since Christina Aguilera) to hit #1 with her first two single releases. again showing that the American music buying public has no taste whatsoever. “Poker Face” climbs to #1, unseating Flo Rida’s “Right Round” after 6 weeks on top. There are two new songs in the Top 10. Miley Cyrus climbs 11-8 with the appropriately titled “The Climb”, while Ciara shoots up 17 spots to #10 with “Love Sex Magic”, a collaboration with Justin Timberlake. With T.I.’s “Dead & Gone” at #4 this week, JT joins GaGa as artists with two songs each in the Top 10. Collaborating with Timberlake seems to be kind of a golden ticket these days, as Timbaland, Madonna, 50 Cent, T.I. and now Ciara have all scored Top 10 hits featuring the former ‘NSync-er.

    Next week’s #1 single may be lurking just inside the Top 40. Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” inches in at #39, but it’s digital release will catapult it into, at the very least, next week’s Top 10 and it just may unseat GaGa at the top of the chart, although the fact that Lady G performed on “American Idol” last week could keep her at the top. Anyway, here’s this week’s Top 20 album charts. Watch out next week, when Keith Urban, Prince, Flo Rida, Bow Wow and a passel of others debut in the Top 20 of the charts, leading to another round of mega-drops.

    Top 20 Albums

    01-“Now That’s What I Call Music 30”-Various Artists

    02-“Hannah Montana Movie Soundtrack”-Miley Cyrus/Various Artists

    03-“Twilight Soundtrack”-Various Artists

    04-“In a Perfect World…”-Keri Hilson

    05-“All I Ever Wanted” Kelly Clarkson

    06-“No Line on the Horizon”-U2

    07-“The Fame”-Lady GaGa

    08-“Metamorphosis”-Papa Roach

    09-“Pray IV Reign”-Jim Jones

    10-“Shine”-Martina McBride

    11-“Crack the Skye”-Mastodon

    12-“Fearless”-Taylor Swift

    13-“Approaching Normal”-Blue October

    14-“Love vs. Money” The-Dream

    15-“Boss of All Bosses”-Slim Thug

    16-“Son of a Preacher Man”-John Rich

    17-“Carolina”-Eric Church

    18-“Dark Horse”-Nickelback

    19-“Hazards of Love”-The Decemberists

    20-“Voices”-Yanni