Susan Boyle Controls The Chart

Robbie Daw | December 2, 2009 8:19 am

Who’d have thought that a “YouTube sensation” would wind up with the best sales week of 2009? When all was said and done, Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream ended up selling 701,000 copies last week, reports Billboard. Needless to say, it debuted at #1 on the trade publication’s Top 200 Albums chart.

The warbling minx not only dethroned John Mayer from the top—his Battle Studies got bumped all the way down to #13. So how did things shake out with Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga and Rihanna?

* American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert sold 198,000 copies of For Your Entertainment and came in at #3 on the Top 200 chart. That’s obviously lower than the 225,000 that had been projected last week, but still enough to make Idol champ Kris Allen a bit red-faced (he sold 80,000 of his self-titled debut in week one).

* Rihanna debuted at #4 with Rated-R after selling 181,000 copies. Some are calling this a flop in comparison to the week’s other debuts, but Billboard notes this is actually Ri Ri’s best opening sales week ever. Apples and oranges, maybe?

* Lady Gaga comes in at #5 on a bit of a technicality with The Fame Monster. The eight-song release moved 174,000 copies on its own. However, Gaga’s first album The Fame also jumped up to #6, thanks in part to it now being available in a re-packaged edition with The Fame Monster. So depending on who bought what version, it gave her two releases a boost either way.

Now we turn to see how things play out next week for R. Kelly and Allison Iraheta—and if Andrea Bocelli will still be jamming things up at #2 with My Christmas.

The Top 10 of Billboard‘s Top 200 Albums:

1. Susan Boyle, I Dreamed A Dream *new* 2. Andrea Bocelli, My Christmas 3. Adam Lambert, For Your Entertainment *new* 4. Rihanna, Rated-R *new* 5. Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster *new* 6. Lady Gaga, The Fame 7. Miley Cyrus, The Time Of Our Lives 8. Taylor Swift, Fearless 9. Carrie Underwood, Play On 10. Norah Jones, The Fall