Blog Posts by Paul Grein

Rick Ross' sophomore album, Trilla, enters Nielsen/SoundScan's list of the nation's best-selling albums at #1--just as his debut, Port Of Miami, did two years ago. Ross is only the fifth rap artist to open at #1 with both of his first two albums. He follows DMX, who debuted at #1 with his first five albums; Snoop Doggy Dogg, who started on top with his first three; and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the Eminem-led D12, which opened at #1 with their first two releases.

And yet, many in the broad pop audience hardly know who Ross is. The 31-year old rapper may be among the least well-known two-time chart-toppers in pop history. The main reason for that is that Ross, a Miami native, has yet to have a major crossover hit. His debut album spawned two Hot 100 hits--"Hustlin'" and "Push It"--but neither made the Top 40. Ross may be on the verge of a crossover breakthrough. "The Boss," a collaboration with T-Pain, jumps from #84 to #43 on Hot Digital Tracks. A second track from the album, "Luxury

Alan Jackson's Good Time debuts in the top spot on Nielsen SoundScan's list of the nation's best-selling albums. So why does the country music veteran have reason to be disappointed? For the same reason that Janet Jackson, who debuted at #1 last week with Discipline, probably had mixed feelings about that week's numbers.

Good Time posted a lower opening week sales tally than Alan Jackson's last album, Like Red On A Rose, which debuted at #4 in 2006 with sales of 149,000. Likewise, Discipline opened with a lower sales tally than either of Janet Jackson's last two albums, Damita Jo and 20 Y.O., both of which bowed at #2. In January, Radiohead had a lower total in its first week at #1 with In Rainbows than the band had achieved with its two previous studio albums, Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief, which opened at #2 and #3, respectively.

There were four similar cases last year, when The Notorious B.I.G., Musiq Soulchild, Toby Keith and Common debuted at #1 with sales tallies that were lower

Janet Jackson lands her sixth #1 album with Discipline. This surpasses her brother Michael Jackson, who has amassed five #1 albums. Janet topped the chart with five consecutive studio albums from Control in 1986 to All For You in 2001, but peaked at #2 with her two most recent releases, Damita Jo and 20 Y.O. Michael hit #1 with five albums from Thriller in 1983 to Invincible in 2001. One reason for Janet's lead over Michael in #1 albums is that she is simply more prolific. This is her 10th studio album. In the same period, which dates to the fall of 1982, Michael has released just five new studio sets.

By notching her sixth chart topper, Janet moves into a tie with Madonna for second place on the list of female artists with the most #1 albums. Only Barbra Streisand has had more--eight. Of course, Streisand has been at this a little bit longer. She landed her first #1 album, People, more than 18 months before Janet was born.

Discipline moved 181,000 copies last week, which constitutes

For the second week in a row, Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static and Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 are the top two albums in the U.S. Or are they?

They are, if you look at the Top Comprehensive Albums chart compiled by Nielsen/SoundScan. Johnson is #1 for the week with sales of 105,000 copies, trailed by Jackson with 63,000 copies. (The gap between the two is wider than it was last week, when just 14,000 copies separated them.)

But Jackson is nowhere to be found on the list of Top Current Albums that is published each week (as The Billboard 200) in Billboard magazine. The top 10 from that chart is reprinted in countless newspapers and websites around the world, including this one. The reason for the omission, as I explained last week, is that Nielsen/SoundScan and Billboard exclude catalog titles-defined as albums that are 18 months old or older-from the main chart. (Continuously running "current" hits are exempted.)

The idea is to make more room on the chart for new albums, which

Amy Winehouse and Herbie Hancock lead the annual parade of Grammy winners and performers who surge on Nielsen/SoundScan's list of the best-selling albums in the U.S.

Winehouse's Back To Black leaps from #24 to #2, surpassing its initial peak at #6 last June and July. Hancock's River: The Joni Letters vaults from #159 to #5, surpassing its initial peak at #118 last September. Hancock's weekly sales jumped more than tenfold over last week's tally. Winehouse's weekly sales nearly quintupled compared to last week.

Yet, the #1 album is by an artist whose name wasn't even uttered on the Grammy telecast--Jack Johnson. The balladeer's Sleep Through The Static not only holds at #1 for the second week in a row, it edges past Alicia Keys' As I Am to become the best-selling album so far in 2008.

The deluxe edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller would have opened at #2 if it had been allowed to compete on the pop album chart, but Nielsen/SoundScan and Billboard magazine have a rule that any title

Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static opens at #1 with sales of 375,000 copies, a personal best for the mellow balladeer. The robust total allows us to celebrate a milestone in style: Sleep Through The Static is the 750th #1 album since Billboard's album chart became a regular weekly feature in March 1956. (I'll have quite a bit more to say about that, but first let's take care of business.) Johnson's album sold more than four times as many copies as Sheryl Crow's Detours, which bows at #2 with sales of 92,000. The total for ...Static is more than twice the opening week tally of Johnson's previous album, the Curious George soundtrack, which debuted at #1 two years ago with sales of 163,000.

This is Johnson's fourth album in a row to debut in the top three on Nielsen SoundScan's list of the best-selling albums in the U.S. He also did it with On And On in 2003 and In Between Dreams in 2005. Detours is Crow's third studio album in a row to open in the runner-up spot. She also debuted

Alicia Keys' As I Am jumps back to #1, displacing the Juno soundtrack. As I Am sold 61,000 copies last week, the third lowest total for a #1 album since Nielsen/SoundScan began tracking U.S. album sales in 1991. The only albums to have sold fewer copies while sitting atop the chart were the Dreamgirls soundtrack, which sold 60,000 copies one week in January 2007, and Keys' album, which sold a bit less than 61,000 two weeks ago.

While the recent numbers for this and all other albums have been dismal, As I Am is selling better than anything else out there, so its continuing dominance is still a noteworthy achievement. This is the album's fourth week at #1--the longest that any female artist has remained in the top spot since Norah Jones' Feels Like Home held the lead for six weeks in 2004. It's the longest that an African American female solo artist has held the top spot since Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill had four weeks on top in 1998.

And don't lose sight of the fact

Two years ago, when U2 won the Grammy for Album of the Year for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, Bono paid tribute in his acceptance speech to each of the losing nominees. To Kanye West, who had been a bridesmaid in the category two years in a row, he said, "Kanye, you're next."

Bono probably just meant it as a gracious, consoling remark, but it may very well turn out to have been prescient. West has an excellent chance of walking away with Album of the Year when the 50th annual Grammy Awards are presented at Staples Center on Feb. 10. His third album, Graduation, had the biggest opening week sales of any release in 2007. There's also a sense that, after losing twice, it's his turn. (The other Album of the Year contenders are all in the finals for the first time.) And, not that he needs it, but there may be a sympathy factor because of his mother's highly publicized death last year after undergoing plastic surgery.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Amy Winehouse, who is