Happy 4/20, ladies and gentlemen! (If I have to explain the significance of this date to you, then never mind). Here’s this week’s Top 20 singles and albums.
Top 20 Albums:
1) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
2) “Troubadour” George Strait
3) “Sunset Man” James Otto
4) “Now That’s What I Call Music 27” Various Artists
5) “Accelerate” R.E.M.
6) “Alvin & The Chipmunks” Soundtrack
7) “All I Feel” Ray J.
8) “Trilla” Rick Ross
9) “When Angels & Serpents Dance” P.O.D.
10) “Welcome to the Dollhouse” Danity Kane
11) “Midnight Fire: A Body & Soul Collection” Various Artists
12) “Pretty. Odd.” Panic at the Disco
13) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
14) ” Ghosts I-IV” Nine Inch Nails
15) “Sleep Through the Static” Jack Johnson
16) “Daughtry” Daughtry
17) “Jordin Sparks” Jordin Sparks
18) “Day26” Day26
19) “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings” Counting Crows
20) “Consolers of the Lonely” The Raconteurs
Top 20 Singles
1) “”Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
2) “Lollipop” Li’l Wayne
3) “No Air” Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown
4) “Love in This Club” Usher
5) “Touch My Body” Mariah Carey
6) “Sexy Can I” Ray J.
7) “4 Minutes” Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake
8) “With You” Chris Brown
9) “Love Song” Sara Bareilles
10) “Low” Flo-Rida
11) “See You Again” Miley Cyrus
12) “Don’t Stop the Music” Rihanna
13) “Stop & Stare” OneRepublic
14) “Apologize” Timbaland feat. OneRepublic
15) “No One” Alicia Keys
16) “Superstar” Lupe Fiasco
17) “Independent” Webbie
18) “What About Now” Daughtry
19) “Sorry” Buckcherry
20) “Damaged” Danity Kane
This week’s chart shows the sales bump provided by the “Idol Gives Back” special. Daughtry and Jordin Sparks both move back into the Top 20 on the albums chart, Sparks’ single reaches a new peak of #3, the fifth single from Daughtry’s 4X Platinum album debuts in the Top 20 (while the fourth single, “Feels Like Tonight”, sits at #24, and Carrie Underwood follows up last year’s version of The Pretenders’ Nineties hit “I’ll Stand by You” with a version of George Michael’s “Praying for Time”, which is new to the Top 100 at #27.
Speaking of Sparks, her debut album surpasses Taylor Hicks in sales this week, meaning that she no longer has to worry about the dubious distinction of having the lowest-selling album by an “American Idol” winner in history.
It almost pains me to say that the only artists who can boast a Top 10 single and a Top 10 album simultaneously this week are Leona Lewis (who’s vocally gifted but a complete cipher), and Ray J. (although I admit, “Sexy Can I” is kinda catchy!). In the process, Lewis becomes the first British female artist EVER to debut at #1 on the Billboard Albums chart. Take *that*, Winehouse!!
I was just reading a “Vibe” article (one of many proclaiming Li’l Wayne as the best thing since color television) that mentioned the fact that Wayne had yet to live up to the hype by scoring a major pop hit. Welllll…with “Lollipop” making it to #2 (in a crowd of very successful singles) this week, I guess we can safely say that Weezy doesn’t have to worry about *that* anymore!
Um…who’s James Otto??
How the hell did one of those TV-advertised “Body & Soul” compilations (this one featuring Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, Mario and others) make it into the Top 20??
Speaking of Mario, his third album “Go!” has been goosed slightly since he started appearing on “Dancing with the Stars”, but at only about 275K sold since it’s December release (and no major hit single), it’s got a long way to cover before it reaches the platinum-plus heights of his last album, “Turning Point”.
Next week, Hurricane Mariah, who should leapfrog past the 500K mark with “E=MC2”, a number that will probably not only outsell the rest of the Top 10 combined, but will also immediately place her around #7 on the list of 2008’s Top 10 Albums (granted, it’s only April, but still…). It’s a long way from “Glitter”, eh?
OK, the charts were boring this week, I promise something better next week.