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Tag: Paul Wall

  • 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

  • New Release of the Week 5/12/09: Green Day

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    They’re ba-a-ack!

    After a five year layoff, America’s favorite punks have returned with yet another “rock opera” sort of album, called 21st Century Breakdown. First single Know Your Enemy is already burning up the charts (it’s currently the #1 modern rock single in the country), and this release has the potential to be huge (or at least what passes for huge in the music biz circa 2009). Strangely, Green Day’s record company isn’t putting this one out until Friday, not the typical new release day in America. Let’s see how many folks out there start off their weekend with some Green Day.

    Here are some other notable titles hitting store shelves this week:

    Cam’ron Crime Pays: The Harlem bred-rapper was big in the mid-Nineties, took a bit of a layoff, came back strong with singles like Oh Boy and Hey Ma in 2002, and then fell off the radar again, even as his proteges Jim Jones and Juelz Santana spawned hits on their own. He’s back again, with what he hopes will be another comeback album, Crime Pays. I haven’t heard anything from this yet, and Cam’ron’s penchant for wafer-thin lyrics and simplistic rhyme styles means I probably never will!

    Steve Earle Townes: Those of you who can get your hands on a copy of last Sunday’s New York Times should check out an article that was written about alt-country main stay Steve Earle and his relationship with the late Townes Van Zandt. Earle served as kind of an apprentice to Townes, and now the apprentice salutes the teacher with a tribute album.

    Paul Wall Fast Life: Who knew this guy was still around? Asher Roth may have displaced him as America’s second-favorite white rapper, but Houston’s Paul Wall isn’t going to take that challenge lying down. The man with one of the most ostentatious grills in rap music (and quite possibly dental) history is back with a new album. Will the fans who were around for Houston rap’s moment in the sun three or four years ago come back?

    The Crystal Method     Divided by Night: This electronica outfit has a pretty interesting guest list for their current album. Among the featured artists are Hasidic reggae-rapper Matisyahu, New Order’s Peter Hook, and…wait a second. Is this the same Justin Warfield who recorded the Q-Tip-esque Season of the Vic back in the early Nineties? Apparently not. This Justin Warfield is 1/2 of She Wants Revenge. Oh well. A man can hope.

    Get a complete list of this week’s new releases here, and for those who don’t know who the hell Justin Warfield (not the She Wants Revenge guy) is, here’s a video for you.