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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
Surprising 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.
