Let’s party like it’s 1999! For the first time in 2008, every album in the Top Ten scans over 100,000 copies. Of course,this tracking week includes Black Friday, explaining this sudden rush of good fortune in the music industry. Lots of interesting news within the chart as well. Let’s see what’s going on with this week’s Billboard Albums Chart. All charts are the sole property of Billboard Communications, Inc.
1) 808s & Heartbreak-Kanye West
Kanye has reason to celebrate as well as reason to worry. 808s is his third #1 album (out of four albums), but it also scores the lowest first-week sales of his career, a testament to this album’s polarizing nature.
2) Fearless-Taylor Swift
3) Chinese Democracy-Guns ‘n Roses
What the hell happened? G’N R fans were supposed to be trooping to Best Buy in droves to pick up this long, long awaited album, and not only did it not come close to toppling Kanye, but it couldn’t even top Taylor Swift!! What gives?
4) I Am…Sasha Fierce-Beyonce
Sasha Fierce is in control of the singles chart, where Single Ladies jumps into the top spot, wresting control after two months of non-stop T.I.. Beyonce also finds herself at #3 with If I Were a Boy. Don’t fret for T.I., though. He’s enjoying his last few weeks of freedom with the #2 and #4 singles in the country.
5) Theater of the Mind-Ludacris
6) Day & Age-The Killers
People still care about The Killers. How unfortunate.
7) Dark Horse-Nickelback
8) Twilight-Original Soundtrack
9) Various Artists-Now That’s What I Call Music 29
10)David Cook-David Cook
The 2008 American Idol champion is off to a way better start than his predecessor. Jordin Sparks’ debut scanned just over 100,000 units in its’ first week, a record-low for an Idol winner, while Cook is about 100,000 copies away from Gold after only two weeks. However, proving that it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish, Sparks’ album has crossed the Platinum mark and remains on the chart a year after its’ release. Thanks Chris Brown!!
11)High School Musical 3: Senior Year-Soundtrack
12)Black Ice-AC/DC
13)The Promise-Il Divo
14)The Greatest Songs of the Eighties-Barry Manilow
The bored housewife section of the chart is right here, as classical-esque boy band Il Divo come in at lucky #13 this week, while the immortal Barry Manilow (kids, he was Clay Aiken thirty years ago, with all that that implies) pops up a notch below, with yet another tribute album. This one was not as successful as its’ predecessors, one of which actually hit #1 on the charts a couple years back. Check out the cover, too. That man’s face is tighter than Spandex on Mo’nique.
15)Prospekt’s March-Coldplay
16)Paper Trail-T.I.
17)Joy to the World-Faith Hill
18)And Winter Came-Enya
And now we’re at the Christmas holiday portion of the chart, with festive albums from Faith Hill and Eny…hey, wait. Something tells me that an Enya holiday album won’t exactly have you rockin’ around the Christmas tree. Oh, well. Feliz Navidad!!
19)David Archuleta-David Archuleta
Something tells me Blake Lewis is sitting at home right now going “Fuck! They couldn’t have done this with me?!? Sorry, bro. Cute, innocent teenagers are infinitely more commercial than beatboxers.
20)Funhouse-P!nk
