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Normally, we reserve our Tuesday-morning Billboard 200 quarterbacking for sales-total predictions, but this week’s race for No. 1 has three Nashville-born albums vying for the pole position. In one corner there’s Lost Highway, Bon Jovi’s attempt to remind people that they are, in fact, steel horse-riding cowboys; in another, there’s 5th Gear, the latest album from country lifer Brad Paisley; and finally, there’s the White Stripes’ Icky Thump, which was recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios, although of the three, we’re betting that it’s the least likely to get love from the country-radio cabal:
Which Album Will Land At The Top Of The Heap?
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Bon Jovi is #1 with a 50k+ lead ahead of WS. Crap.
I have never understood how people enjoy Bon Jovi. What a shitty, shitty band.
There was no way it was ever gonna be the White Stripes. I voted Paisley, but there should’ve been a “none” option, I wouldn’t put it past Toby Keith to have a good 2nd week. Either way, with Bon Jovi pandering to the CMT crowd it’s gonna be a country #1.
@Aquemini: For once, you and I are in total agreement.
I predict BJ, but there’s no joy in that prediction. If the Stripes can’t pull it out - and it looks all but impossible at this point - I hope Paisley has a come-from-behind surge and knocks Jon Bon off. Anything to keep that twerp from #1. BJ (I love calling them that) has had a streak of #2 albums since the early ’90s, and if this one goes to #1 I think it’d be their first chart-topper since New Jersey in ‘88.
Basically, BJ are going to benefit from the same strategy that gave Jimmy Buffett his first-ever #1 album three years ago – add a handful of suburban-country fans while holding onto the bulk of your fanbase, and your record’s a juggernaut.
mediocrity is Jovi’s middle name, and middling America is going to buy it.
My favorite idiot Bon Jovi moment ever was in a piece in Melody Maker in 1993 or so wherein he claimed his band was the specific inspiration for grunge. What a sad fool.
@capn_guthrie: so true…guess it’s just a matter of time until the inevitable duet with Rascal Flatts. Cringe.
The early predictions gave BJ, WS and BP in a three-way-tie to the top. I don’t know about Toby Keith, but the only good second week I’ve seen all year is Michael Buble’s, who shot to #1 thanks to Mother’s Day.
I think it’s healthier, though useless at this point, to root for Jack and Meg anyway, right?
Mr. Dennisobell: You are spot-on; the new way to keep selling records when you’re way past your prime: add some shitty violin or twang and market yourself as country. I fucking hate American culture sometimes.
Since the majority of physical discs get sold at “big-box with a 60-acre parking lot” retailers like Wal Mart, it really isn’t much of a shock that country is doing better and better all the time on the charts.
“If you are still buying CDs and not downloading … you might be a redneck”
@Ned Raggett: JBJ’s got a pretty good sense of humor. I think he meant his band was the specific inspiration for grunge AS A REACTION.
Would that it were so. If I can find the quote you can judge but if he were being tongue-in-cheek or the like on it then that man has such a dry sense of humor you can hear crackling every time he talks.