Archive for the ‘Who Charted’ Category

Slipknot Find A Few Chads Hanging Out Under The Game’s Couch

Maura
September 3rd, 2008 // 7 Comments

whowonthegame.jpgWhen I saw the SoundScan charts this morning, I felt kind of bad for Slipknot. The masked metallers haven’t been having the best string of luck recently, and now their album All Hope Is Gone was narrowly beaten out for the top spot on the album tally by LAX, the new album from tormented name-dropper the Game. How small of a margin did they lose by, you ask? Try 13 sales. Well, apaprently I wasn’t the only one who felt bad about this: Slipknot, upon seeing this statistic, gathered up its brooding rage and did what any red-blooded American would do: They demanded a recount from the SoundScan folks. You can probably guess what happened next.

Yes, the SoundScan people found some 1,244 sales hiding within the bowels of their system, or maybe at a neglected Hot Topic somewhere in the ‘burbs, and that was enough to give Slipknot the one-week win over the Game. All Hope Is Gone‘s final sales total is 239,516 to LAX‘s un-revised 238,382; whether or not the Game is going to further appeal his own SoundScan total is unknown at this point, but surely he’s at least comforted by the fact that his first-week sales beat out those achieved by his former cronies in G-Unit earlier this summer.

Slipknot Edges The Game Atop Billboard 200 [Billboard]

Posted Under: ,

Abba Takes It All (This Week, At Least)

Maura
August 13th, 2008 // 6 Comments

mammamia.jpgHands up, those of you who thought that the soundtrack to the big-screen adaptation of Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and Amanda Seyfried as people who just bust out into Abba songs at seemingly random intervals, would be this week’s top album. Anyone? No? Well, bully on you; the collection sold 131,000 copies, a 5% week-to-week drop that was enough to best both Miley Cyrus’ Breakout (102,000 sold) and Sugarland’s Love On The Inside (91,000 sold) for the top spot.

Biggest Debuts: The best-selling new album this week: Lessons In Love by Idolator favorite Lloyd, which moved 51,000 copies and entered at No. 7. Meanwhile, other-blogs favorite Conor Oberst bowed at No. 15 with his self-titled Merge Records debut, selling 29,000 copies. At No. 10 was country singer Heidi Newfield, whose solo debut What Am I Waiting For sold 34,000 copies; No. 12 belonged to another country artist, Keith Anderson, whose C’mon! moved 32,000 units.

Notable Jumps: M.I.A.’s Kala is finally starting to feel a lift from “Paper Planes” being featured in the trailer for Pineapple Express; sales saw a 32% week-to-week jump (11,000 copies), and the album leapt from No. 62 to No. 45 on the chart. Even more impressive is that some 7,200 copies off that total were off the digital version, which has been featured on iTunes’ front page in the run-up to the flick’s release. (Amazon had it for a buck-ninety-nine this week, and we’ll see the effects of that pricing on next week’s chart.)

Dropping Off: Sugarland’s Love On The Inside had its chart debut when the album’s “special edition” came out, and a second-week boost to No. 1 when the plain old CD came out. This week, though, it falls 47% from its sales mark last week (91,000 sold), tumbling from the top spot to No. 3.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: I bet you didn’t know that the post-grunge outfit Trapt was around and still making records. But it is: Only Through The Pain (eesh, that title) debuted at No. 18, selling 25,000 copies. Hey, it’s better than Katy Perry, right?

This week’s top 20, with sales figures in parentheses:
1. Mamma Mia! soundtrack (131,000)
2. Miley Cyrus, Breakout (102,000)
3. Sugarland, Love On The Inside (91,000)
4. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (90,000)
5. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (67,000)
6. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (55,000)
7. Lloyd, Lessons In Love (51,000)
8. Camp Rock soundtrack (47,000)
9. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad (44,000)
10. Heidi Newfield, What Am I Waiting For (34,000)
11. Jonas Brothers (32,000)
12. Keith Anderson, C’mon! (32,000)
13. Now 28 (30,000)
14. Kidz Bop 14 (30,000)
15. Conor Oberst (29,000)
16. Taylor Swift (28,000)
17. Nas (25,000)
18. Trapt, Only Through The Pain (25,000)
19. Third Day, Revelation (24,000)
20. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys (23,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Mamma Mia! soundtrack (15,000)
2. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (13,000)
3. Conor Oberst (9,900)
4. Various Artists, Songs For Tibet (7,300)
5. M.I.A., Kala (7,200)
6. Miley Cyrus, Breakout (6,500)
7. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (5,900)
8. Sugarland, Love On The Inside (5,600)
9. Trapt, Only Through The Pain (5,200)
10. Randy Newman, Harps & Angels (5,100)

Posted Under:

Nas Doesn’t Need A Title To Wind Up On Top

Maura
July 23rd, 2008 // 6 Comments

Nas190.jpgNas’ new album, which was stripped of its epithetastic title in the months leading up to its release, took the No. 1 spot on this week’s album charts, selling 187,000 copies in its first week out. The album, which leaked earlier this month, had a first-week total that was a little more than half of the 355,000-sold mark achieved by Hip-Hop Is Dead a year and a half ago. Nas is Nas’ fourth career No. 1.

Biggest Debuts: Fresh off waking me up with his soundcheck, John Mellencamp enters the chart at No. 7, selling 56,000 copies of Life Death Love & Freedom; right behind him is David Banner, whose Greatest Story Ever Told moved 52,000 copies. Taylor Swift sold 45,000 copies of her Wal-Mart-exclusive Beautiful Eyes to enter at No. 9. O.A.R., Randy Travis, and the soundtrack to The Dark Knight also had top-20 debuts.

Notable Jumps: Bolstered by its attached film debuting in theaters last week and attracting a lot of people not interested in seeing the latest Batman installment, the soundtrack to the movie version of Mamma Mia! enjoyed an 89% jump, leaping to No. 3–ahead of Coldplay!–and selling 91,000 copies.

Dropping Off: Beck’s Modern Guilt, last week’s No. 4, was off 66% week-to-week and dropped to No. 18 (29,000).

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: There’s nothing really inexplicable this week, although it should be noted that Kid Rock’s boasting about sales got more ammo this week, as sales for Rock N Roll Jesus were up 20% week-to-week; of course, that gain wasn’t enough to prevent the album from falling one spot to No. 6. (And really, the true durability test is going to come a year from now, when we see how many copies of this CD are in the used bins.)

The top 20 albums, with sales totals in parentheses (an asterisk indicates a debut):
1. Nas (187,000)*
2. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (105,000)
3. Mamma Mia! soundtrack (91,000)
4. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (90,000)
5. Camp Rock soundtrack (78,000)
6. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (73,000)
7. John Mellencamp, Life Death Love & Freedom (56,000)*
8. David Banner, Greatest Story Ever Told (52,000)*
9. Taylor Swift, Beautiful Eyes (45,000)*
10. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad (41,000)
11. Now 28 (40,000)
12. Taylor Swift (35,000)
13. O.A.R, All Sides (33,000)*
14. Randy Travis, Around The Bend (31,000)*
15. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys (31,000)
16. Beck, Modern Guilt (29,000)
17. Disturbed, Indestructible (29,000)
18. Journey, Revelation (28,000)
19. Usher, Here I Stand (26,000)
20. The Dark Knight soundtrack (25,000)*

The top 10 digital albums, sales totals in parentheses (an asterisk indicates a debut):
1. Nas (28,000)*
2. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (23,000)
3. O.A.R., All Sides (17,000)
4. Mamma Mia! soundtrack (17,000)
5. The Dark Knight soundtrack (12,000)*
6. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Magic Tour Highlights (12,000)*
7. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (8,500)
8. John Mellencamp, Life Death Love & Freedom (6,900)*
9. Beck, Modern Guilt (6,700)
10. Camp Rock soundtrack (6,400)

Posted Under:

The Album Charts Are Starting To Feel A Little Comfortable

Maura
July 16th, 2008 // 3 Comments

For another week, Lil Wayne and Coldplay make up the album charts’ 1-2 punch, with Tha Carter III taking the top spot (125,000 copies sold) and Coldplay serving as Wayne’s best men (113,000 sold). According to Hits, Nas’ untitled album is set to break this log jam next week, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

Biggest Debuts: Beck’s Modern Guilt became the latest entry on this year’s list of albums with first-week scans that were nearly equivalent to the number of words spilled about them before their release, selling 84,000 copies and debuting at No. 4. Meanwhile, the Abba-saluting soundtrack to Mamma Mia! sold 48,000 and entered the chart at No. 8, while the Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis collaboration Two Men With The Blues sold 22,000 copies and entered at No. 20, Willie’s highest Soundscan chart mark yet.

Notable Jumps: In a week where most of the sales tallies went from “off from last week” to “yikes,” Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus, no doubt aided by the no-single strategy for his Zevon-biting hit “All Summer Long,” provided an actual bright spot near the top of the charts; it was up 35% week-to-week, selling 61,000 copies and bumping up to No. 5.

Dropping Off: The latest album from 50 Cent and his remaining G-Unit disciples, Terminate On Sight, was down 66% week-to-week, dropping from No. 4 to No. 9 on sales of 36,000 copies. Ahh, nothing like some 50 Cent sales schadenfreude to brighten up an otherwise crummy week, eh?

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Thanks to my being forced to sit through two 3 Doors Down songs pre-Home Run Derby on Tuesday night (as well as a personal desire to stay in a state of semi-denial about the staying power of Katy Bleaty Perry), I’m nominating them for this category. Their latest self-titled album sold 22,000 copies and bumped up its chart position from No. 21 to No. 19, despite taking a 6% week-to-week sales hit, and despite the at-least-memorable “Kryptonite” not being on the new album. I know that mainstream rock and my tastes have at least a little bit of a gulf between them, but man oh man.

The top 20 albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (125,000)
2. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (113,000)
3. Camp Rock soundtrack (88,000)
4. Beck, Modern Guilt (84,000)
5. Kid Rock, Rock N’ Roll Jesus (61,000)
6. Now 28 (48,000)
7. Mamma Mia! soundtrack (48,000)
8. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad (47,000)
9. G-Unit, Terminate On Sight (36,000)
10. John Mayer, Where The Light Is (34,000)
11. Usher, Here I Stand (33,000)
12. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys (32,000)
13. Disturbed, Indestructible (30,000)
14. Taylor Swift (29,000)
15. Leona Lewis, Spirit (27,000)
16. Three 6 Mafia, Last 2 Walk (24,000)
17. Plies, Definition Of Real (24,000)
18. Journey, Revelation (24,000)
19. 3 Doors Down (22,000)
20. Nelson/Marsalis, Two Men With The Blues(22,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Beck, Modern Guilt (31,000)
2. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (29,000)
3. John Mayer, Where The Light Is (12,000)
4. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (10,000)
5. Camp Rock soundtrack (7,300)
6. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys (6,200)
7. Maroon 5, Live From Le Cabaret (5,900)
8. Nelson/Marsalis, Two Men With The Blues (5,100)
9. Maine, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop (4,800)
10. Mamma Mia! soundtrack (4,600)

Posted Under: ,

Coldplay Is Living The High Life

Maura
June 25th, 2008 // 11 Comments

vidalavida.jpgColdplay’s Viva La Vida, Or Death And All His Friends sold 721,000 copies in its first week on store shelves, a tally that easily propelled them to No. 1 on this week’s album charts. And the band’s iTunes-forward sales strategy paid off online as well, with a whopping 288,000 virtual copies of the album being downloaded via legal means. (The band’s 2005 album X & Y also leapt into the digital-albums top 10, moving 6,200 copies; surely Amazon marking it down to $1.99 helped.) Viva La Vida‘s one-week virtual total more than doubles the previous record for one-week digital sales, which was held by Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through The Static; that album shifted 139,000 e-copies in its first week.

Biggest Debuts: Entering the charts at No. 3 was the soundtrack to the soon-to-be-sequeled Jonas Brothers vehicle Camp Rock, which sold 188,000 copies. Katy Perry came in at No. 9 with 47,000 copies of One Of The Boys, a sales total that might hint to her future home in the 99-cent bin. (Compare those numbers to those posted by her current hit, “I Kissed A Girl,” which is No. 1 on the digital tracks chart; it sold about 228,000 copies this week and is (sigh) near the million mark overall. Talk about the pop hits a cultural moment deserves.)

The Offspring sold 46,000 copies of their latest comeback album, Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace, and came in at No. 10, while Judas Priest’s double album about Nostradamus came in at a semi-predictable No. 11, selling 42,000 copies.

Notable Jumps: The cash-in reissue of Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad sold 63,000 copies–a 930% jump that was good enough for a leap from No. 124 to No. 7. The album has sold 1.3 million copies to date, which seems like a small total given the omnipresence of “Umbrella” and “Don’t Stop The Music.” Good thing she’s got all those endorsements to back her up.

Dropping Off: Last week’s No. 1, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III, took a 69% hit, but it only fell to No. 2 on the overall chart since a one-week sales total of 309,000 is still pretty good in this more-anemic-than-ever market. (Billboard noted that while the year-to-year decline was only 6.7%, the week-to-week decline was 10.6%, or about a million units.)

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Kid Rock continues his Warren Zevon-assisted run back up the album chart, with Rock N Roll Jesus selling 28,000 copies and inching up to No. 16.

This week’s top 20, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (721,000)
2. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (309,000)
3. Camp Rock soundtrack (188,000)
4. Now 28 (81,000)
5. Plies, Definition Of Real (68,000)
6. Usher, Here I Stand (65,000)
7. Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad (63,000)
8. Disturbed, Indestructible (59,000)
9. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys (47,000)
10. The Offspring, Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace (46,000)
11. Judas Priest, Nostradamus (42,000)
12. Journey, Revelation (38,000)
13. Weezer (30,000)
14. 3 Doors Down (29,000)
15. Alanis Morrissette, Flavors Of Entanglement (29,000)
16. Kid Rock, Rock N’ Roll Jesus (29,000)
17. Leona Lewis, Spirit (28,000)
18. Duffy, Rockferry (28,000)
19. Taylor Swift (27,000)
20. N.E.R.D., Seeing Sounds (24,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (288,000)
2. Camp Rock soundtrack (38,000)
3. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (27,000)
4. Katy Perry, One Of The Boys (16,000)
5. The Offspring, Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace (11,000)
6. Disturbed, Indestructible (7,200)
7. Alanis Morrissette, Flavors Of Entanglement (6,700)
8. Coldplay, X & Y (6,200)
9. Sex And The City soundtrack (6,200)
10. Weezer (5,900)

Posted Under:

Lil Wayne Can Dry His Tattooed-On Tears

Maura
June 18th, 2008 // 9 Comments

As previously noted, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III blew into the No. 1 spot on this week’s album charts thanks to a sales total that just broke the million mark–a feat that isn’t all surprising given last week’s early-bird chart debut, but is still probably causing some chilling-since-2005 Champagne corks to get popped in the offices of Universal Music Group.

Biggest Debuts: It wasn’t right behind Carter, but Plies’ Definition Of Real did tally some impressive numbers, selling 215,000 copies and entering the chart at No. 2. Perhaps most notable about this feat was that Plies accomplished it by wearing himself around his neck:

plieessss.jpg

Is it as bad as his smoking book from last year? I honestly can’t decide.

In other debut news, N*E*R*D sold 80,000 copies of its new album Seeing Sounds and debuted at No. 7; Alanis Morrissette’s Flavors Of Entanglement sold 70,000 copies and came in at No. 8; and 49,000 people decided that My Morning Jacket’s recorded output was as worthy of their money as the band’s live show, as Evil Urges entered at No. 9.

Notable Jumps: He may be holding his albums back from iTunes, but Kid Rock’s Rock And Roll Jesus is still selling, with a 25% jump this week (No. 19, 28,000) that puts it just on the edge of reaching the million-sold mark.

Dropping Off: Weezer’s latest play for the geeks was down 64% (No. 10, 46,000 sold), and the album that beat it out for No. 1 last week, Disturbed’s Indestructible, took a 60% hit (No. 4, 102,000 sold).

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Speaking of albums that entered the charts a week ago, Journey’s Revelation took a mere 15% week-to-week hit, selling 89,000 copies and dipping from No. 5 to No. 6. Given that the Wal-Mart strategy worked even better for the Eagles and our Arnel Pineda/Steve Perry comparison posts have attracted more long tail traffic than pretty much anything else on the site (or I should say, anything that isn’t related to that Meg White impersonator who made her way around the Internet last fall), I shouldn’t be as surprised by this relatively small drop, but I guess “news that isn’t as bad as it should have been” is an anomaly for the music business these days.

Postscript: Alanis’ new album came in at No. 2 on the digital chart, selling just under 25,000 copies–or more than 35% of her overall sales total. The idea that Morrissette’s fans may be in the demographic sweet spot for ditching the physical and going for the digital copies of new releases was further borne out by another ’90s alt-rock star whose album hit physical and virtual shelves last week: Jakob Dylan, who came in at No. 24 on the big chart with 24,000 sales and entered the digital-albums chart at No. 9 with 8,500 copies sold. (By comparison, Tha Carter III topped the digital-albums chart with just about 100,000 sales (10% of its overall total), and Plies’ digital-album sales comprised just 2.8% of his overall sales total (6,100, No. 9).)

This week’s top 20 albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (1,000,000)
2. Plies, Definition Of Real (215,000)
3. Now 28 (132,000)
4. Disturbed, Indestructible (102,000)
5. Usher, Here I Stand (101,000)
6. Journey, Revelation (89,000)
7. N*E*R*D, Seeing Sounds (80,000)
8. Alanis Morrissette, Flavors Of Entanglement (70,000)
9. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (49,000)
10. Weezer (46,000)
11. 3 Doors Down (38,000)
12. Sex And The City soundtrack (35,000)
13. Ashanti, Declaration (34,000)
14. Leona Lewis, Spirit (33,000)
15. Duffy, Rockferry (30,000)
16. Taylor Swift (30,000)
17. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best (29,000)
18. Toby Keith, 35 Biggest Hits (29,000)
19. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (28,000)
20. Mongomery Gentry, Back When I Knew It All (27,000)

This week’s top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (100,000)
2. Alanis Morrissette, Flavors Of Entanglement (25,000)
3. N*E*R*D, Seeing Sounds (16,000)
4. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (15,000)
5. Disturbed, Indestructible (12,000)
6. Sex And The City soundtrack (10,000)
7. Weezer (8,900)
8. Jakob Dylan, Seeing Things (8,500)
9. Plies, Definition Of Real (6,100)
10. Usher, Here I Stand (5,300)

Posted Under: ,

Disturbed Triumphs In The Fiery World Of “Now” Compilations And Dorky Weezer Fans

Maura
June 11th, 2008 // 7 Comments

waitarewestilldoingtheawfualbumartcontest.jpgDisturbed’s Indestructible took this week’s top spot on the album charts, selling 253,000 copes in its first week and coming out atop a heap of debuts that included the latest Now cash-in comp, Weezer’s latest attempt to get money from the nerds who read Digg, and Jewel’s play for the country crowd. I just hope that there’s at least one person out there who bought Indestructible based on its cover alone, because really, that is something to behold.

Biggest Debuts: Now 28, which this time actually features songs that are still selling briskly on the Hot Digital Tracks chart (“Bleeding Love,” “Lollipop,” that dreary Natasha Bedingfield track) came in second on the big board, selling 185,000 copies. At No. 4 was the red self-titled album by Weezer, which sold 126,000 copies; No. 5 was Journey’s Arnel Pineda’d out Revelation, which was taken home by 105,000 Wal-Mart shoppers; No. 6 was Ashanti’s The Declaration, which sold 86,000 units; and No. 8 was Jewel’s country album Perfectly Clear, which moved 48,000 copies.

Also, debuting at No. 20 was something called Now Classic Rock, which features these hits that will never be erased from the modern consciousness:

1. Queen – We Will Rock You
2. Heart – Barracuda
3. George Thorogood & The Destroyers – Bad to the Bone
4. Rush – Spirit of the Radio
5. The Who – My Generation
6. Jimi Hendrix Experience – Fire
7. Boston – More Than a Feeling
8. Kansas – Carry on My Wayward Son
9. Styx – Renegade
10. Foreigner – Cold as Ice
11. Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water
12. Grand Funk Railroad – We’re an American Band
13. Mountain – Mississippi Queen
14. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising
15. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
16. Steve Miller Band – The Joker
17. David Bowie – Rebel Rebel
18. Cheap Trick – Surrender
19. Peter Frampton – Show Me the Way (live)
20. Kiss – Rock and Roll All Nite (live)

I’m not sure if its high chart placement is a sign of a weak market or a sign that these songs are just going to be the Rock Standards until long after I’m six feet underground.

Notable Jumps: Thanks to its sales-goosing reissue, Chris Brown’s Exclusive leapt from No. 56 to No. 10 on a 261% sales gain–that’s 36,000 albums sold.

Dropping Off: Last week’s No. 1, Usher’s Here I Stand, took a 67% hit–but only dropped from the top spot to No. 3.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: The Sex And The City soundtrack took a not-bad 9% hit in its second week on shelves, despite a tracklisting that includes Fergie and freaking Morningwood. Well, if it means that some Black Eyed Peas fan will be turned on to Al Green, I guess it’s worth it. Even if he had to duet with Joss Stone to get a spot on the playlist.

The top 20 sellers, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Disturbed, Indestructible (253,000)
2. Now 28 (185,000)
3. Usher, Here I Stand (145,000)
4. Weezer (126,000)
5. Journey, Revelation (105,000)
6. Ashanti, The Declaration (86,000)
7. Sex And The City soundtrack (60,000)
8. Jewel, Perfectly Clear (48,000)
9. 3 Doors Down (45,000)
10. Chris Brown, Exclusive (36,000)
11. Leona Lewis, Spirit (33,000)
12. Duffy, Rockferry (31,000)
13. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 (30,000)
14. Madonna, Hard Candy (27,000)
15. Taylor Swift (27,000)
16. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best (27,000)
17. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (25,000)
18. Toby Keith, 35 Biggest Hits (24,000)
19. Bun B, II Trill (24,000)
20. Now Classic Rock (23,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Weezer (41,000)
2. Disturbed, Indestructible (41,000)
3. Sex And The City soundtrack (19,000)
4. Usher, Here I Stand (9,900)
5. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (6,400)
6. Jewel, Perfectly Clear (6,300)
7. Radiohead, Best Of Radiohead (5,900)
8. Jason Mraz, We Sing We Dance We Steal Things (5,800)
9. Ashanti, The Declaration (5,800)
10. 3 Doors Down (5,600)

Posted Under:

Usher Stands Tall, But Mariah Teeters Over Him

Maura
June 4th, 2008 // 6 Comments

usherhereistand.jpgUsher’s Here I Stand was widely expected to take the top spot on this week’s albums chart, and it did. But its seemingly endless promotional blitz, which stretched from Dancing With The Stars to the morning shows and back to crazytown, resulted in 443,000 sales–a respectable total when you think about the fact that this week’s No. 10 album (Death Cab For Cutie’s Narrow Stairs didn’t even sell 10% of that figure, but just shy of the 463,000 first-week total for Mariah Carey’s E=MC2. (I knew he should have brought the ice-cream truck to TRL!)

Biggest Debuts: At No. 2, yet way, way behind the Usher album, was the soundtrack to Sex And The City, which sold 66,000 copies to people who just had to acquire that crummy Fergie song legally. Al Green’s Lay It Down entered at No. 9, selling 34,000 copies, and further down the chart, Cyndi Lauper’s actually-quite-good foray into AutoTuned electro, Bring Ya To The Brink, sold 12,000 copies and debuted at No. 41.

Notable Jumps: Speaking of that Fergie song, did you know that The Dutchess just got reissued, because apparently 3.6 million record sales weren’t enough for the people at Universal? The reissue resulted in 15,000 new sales–good enough for a leap to No. 28 and a 131% overall jump in its 89th week on the chart, but it can’t help but seem kinda paltry when you think about it in the context of the album’s sales before it got its shiny new cover and Nelly collaboration. And when you think about the fact that the EP consisting of just the bonus tracks sold 11,000 copies of its own.

Dropping Off: Last week’s No. 1, the new self-titled album by 3 Doors Down, dipped 59%, selling 63,000 copies, and fell to No. 3.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Oh, come on. Like this would go to anyone but Fergie this week, given that “Labels Or Love” somehow manages to be 80x more annoying than the characters it’s attached at the expensively sheathed hip to. (Sure, Taylor Swift’s self-titled album has now been on the chart for 84 weeks, but how can you think of her success as “inexplicable”? She’s so cute!)

The top 20 albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Usher, Here I Stand (443,000)
2. Sex And The City soundtrack (66,000)
3. 3 Doors Down (63,000)
4. Bun B, II Trill (40,000)
5. Leona Lewis, Spirit (39,000)
6. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best (37,000)
7. Duffy, Rockferry (36,000)
8. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 (36,000)
9. Al Green, Lay It Down (34,000)
10. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (33,000)
11. Madonna, Hard Candy (32,000)
12. Taylor Swift (29,000)
13. Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (27,000)
14. Toby Keith, 35 Biggest Hits (26,000)
15. Neil Diamond, Home Before Dark (25,000)
16. Julianne Hough (24,000)
17. Now 27 (20,000)
18. Flobots, Fight With Tools (19,000)
19. Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride (19,000)
20. Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus (18,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Usher, Here I Stand (44,000)
2. Sex And The City soundtrack (27,000)
3. Fergie, Dutchess EP (11,000)
4. 3 Doors Down (10,000)
5. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (9,600)
6. Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (7,500)
7. Duffy, Rockferry (6,600)
8. Al Green, Lay It Down (5,800)
9. Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya To The Brink (4,800)
10. Juno sountrack (4,700)

Posted Under:

Death Cab For Cutie’s No. 1 Album Inspires Lots Of Stair-Related Metaphors

Maura
May 21st, 2008 // 5 Comments

lookatallthoseprettycolors.jpgLast week, Death Cab For Cutie’s Narrow Stairs was the only album to break the six-figures-sold mark, moving 144,000 copies and topping the SoundScan charts for the week. Some 55,000 of those sales came through digital outlets, enough for Stairs to top this week’s digital-albums chart and make it the 16th-highest-selling digital album of the year.

Biggest Debuts: Warner Music Group’s recent 360-deal signee Frank Sinatra scored a No. 2 debut with his latest greatest-hits collection, Nothing But The Best (99,000 copies sold). Meanwhile, the money Jason Mraz saved on his album cover can go straight back into his pocket, maybe, as his new album We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things entered the charts at No. 3 with 73,000 copies sold. (Actually, maybe that budget-cutting technique was a smart thing.) And Lulu-in-training Duffy’s debut album, Rockferry, came in at No. 4, selling 71,000 copies.

Notable Jumps: A weak week meant not a lot of upward mobility on the chart, and the 7% jump in sales for Kid Rock’s Rock & Roll Jesus resulted in the album jumping 16 spots on the chart (No. 31, 15,000 sold). Oh, and confusing Simon Cowell on last week’s American Idol sort of paid off for Fantasia–her self-titled album saw a 27% bump, but that only meant that its sales were in the mid-three-digit range instead of the lower-three.

Dropping Off: Who didn’t drop off this week? The No. 20 album, Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through The Static, didn’t even scrape the 20,000-sold mark. Last week’s No. 1, Neil Diamond’s Home Before Dark, had a 63% dip (No. 7, 53,000); Gavin DeGraw’s self-titled album plunged 67% (No. 15, 21,000).

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Well, hm. Ol’ Blue Eyes seems to be holding up pretty well, doesn’t he? Honestly, the numbers this week are so bleak–we’re treading pretty close the point where the total number of albums sold in a week won’t even break the double-platinum mark, people–I can’t even make an Alvin & The Chipmunks joke (No. 22, 18,000 sold, down 16% week to week).

The top 20 albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (144,000)
2. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best (99,000)
3. Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (73,000)
4. Duffy, Rockferry (71,000)
5. Leona Lewis, Spirit (62,000)
6. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 (59,000)
7. Neil Diamond, Home Before Dark (53,000)
8. Madonna, Hard Candy (53,000)
9. Toby Keith, 35 Biggest Hits (41,000)
10. Keith Sweat, Just Me(37,000)
11. Taylor Swift (30,000)
12. 10 Years, Division (28,000)
13. Now 28 (23,000)
14. Dierks Bentley, Greatest Hits: Every Mile A Memory (22,000)
15. Gavin DeGraw (21,000)
16. Josh Groban, Awake Live (21,000)
17. Lyfe Jennings, Lyfe Change (21,000)
18. Clay Aiken, On My Way Here (21,000)
19. Juno soundtrack (20,000)
20. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static (20,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs (55,000)
2. Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (24,000)
3. Duffy, Rockferry (17,000)
4. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best (10,000)
5. Chronicles Of Narnia soundtrack (8,300)
6. Madonna, Hard Cady (7,200)
7. Gavin DeGraw (5,900)
8. Juno soundtrack (5,800)
9. Leona Lewis, Spirit (4,600)
10. P.S. I Love You soundtrack (4,400)

Posted Under:

Neil Diamond Finds Temporary Shelter Atop The Album Charts

Maura
May 14th, 2008 // 6 Comments

homebeforedark.jpgThe Rick Rubin-produced Neil Diamond album Home Before Dark took the top spot on this week’s album chart, selling 146,000 copies and easily outpacing its competition. Home is somehow the first No. 1 album of Diamond’s career, which is probably more a testament to the wacky way the album charts were calibrated back in the day than it is to the fact that he’s been reaching out to the MySpace generation.

Biggest Debuts: In addition to Diamond’s top-selling bow, the top 10 had six debuts: Toby Keith’s 35 Biggest Hits (No. 2, 103,000 sold), Clay Aiken’s On My Way Here (No. 4, 94,000), Gavin DeGraw (No. 7, 66,000); a Josh Groban live album (No. 8, 58,000); Dierks Bentley’s greatest-hits collection (No. 9, 43,000); and Luis Miguel’s Complices (No. 10, 32,000).

Notable Jumps: Thanks to their appearance on last week’s American Idol results show, Maroon 5′s It Won’t Be Soon Before This Album Recoups The Ridiculous Amount Of Money Universal Poured Into It (We Hope) enjoyed a 62% bounce, selling 13,000 copies and jumping to No. 58. Likewise, Rascal Flatts, who appeared in the audience on Idol and “treated” the Dancing With The Stars audience to their godawful tunes, shot up 82%, selling 17,000 copies and leaping to No. 37.

Dropping Off: Last week’s No. 1, Madonna’s Hard Candy, failed to break the six-figure mark in its second week on the chart; its sales were down 66% for a total of 94,000, and they were only ahead of On My Way Here‘s numbers by about 70 units or so. Pandering: It doesn’t always work out of the gate!

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: They haven’t proven their long-term durability yet, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Scream by the inexplicably popular Tokio Hotel sold 16,000 copies in its first week on shelves and entered the chart at No. 39. While that sales total may not seem impressive even in these low-selling times, given that they’re pretty much an Internet sensation at this point, you can’t deny that 16,000 sales is a much larger total than that notched by your average blog band. (And I include both Mika and Robyn in that list.)

The top 20, with last week’s sales totals in parentheses:
1. Neil Diamond, Home Before Dark (146,000)
2. Toby Keith, 35 Biggest Hits (103,000)
3. Madonna, Hard Candy (94,000)
4. Clay Aiken, On My Way Here (94,000)
5. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 (87,000)
6. Leona Lewis, Spirit (76,000)
7. Gavin DeGraw (66,000)
8. Josh Groban, Awake Live (58,000)
9. Dierks Bentley, Greatest Hits: Every Mile A Memory (43,000)
10. Luis Miguel, Complices (32,000)
11. Taylor Swift (32,000)
12. Lyfe Jennings, Lyfe Change (32,000)
13. Now 27 (29,000)
14. George Strait, Troubadour (29,000)
15. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static (26,000)
16. Tye Tribbett, Stand Out (26,000)
17. Juno soundtrack (24,000)
18. Jordin Sparks (24,000)
19. Colbie Caillat, Coco (24,000)
20. Tim McGraw, Greatest Hits 1 & 2 (23,000)

The top 10 digital albums, with sales totals in parentheses:
1. Gavin DeGraw (23,000)
2. Madonna, Hard Candy (13,000)
3. Clay Aiken, On My Way Here (6,700)
4. Leona Lewis, Spirit (6,200)
5. Neil Diamond, Home Before Dark (6,100)
6. Juno soundtrack (5,900)
7. Dierks Bentley, Greatest Hits: Every Mile A Memory (5,100)
8. The Roots, Rising Down (4,700)
9. P.S. I Love You soundtrack (4,300)
10. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 (4,200)

Posted Under:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next »