Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream sold 527,000 copies this week, on top of the 701,000 copies it sold last week. It's the first album to top the 500,000 sales mark in each of its first two weeks since 50 Cent's The Massacre in March 2005. It's the first album to top the 500K mark more than once (ever during its run, not just in its first two weeks) since Josh Groban's Noel, which topped 500K in four straight weeks in December 2007. (Incidentally, Noel rebounds from #26 to #14 this week.)

After just two weeks, I Dreamed A Dream has sold 1,224,000 copies in the U.S. It's the first album to reach the 1 million mark in just two weeks since AC/DC's Black Ice 13 months ago. That hard rock smash sold 1,055,000 copies in its first two weeks. I Dreamed A Dream is the first album to reach the 1.2 million mark in its first two weeks since Lil Wayne's rap smash Tha Carter III, which sold 1,316,000 in its first two weeks in June 2008. These three albums could hardly be more different, which is a good

John Mayer has a lot to be thankful for this week. He can be glad that his new album Battle Studies debuts at #1 with a healthy sales total (286,000 copies). And he can especially be thankful that that the album didn't go head-to-head with Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream, which is expected to debut at #1 next week with first-week sales in the range of 600,000 copies. It could top Eminem's Relapse for the biggest sales week by any album in 2009. Relapse opened with sales of 608,000 in May.

Battle Studies is Mayer's third consecutive studio album to debut in the top two with first-week sales of 275,000 or more. Heavier Things bowed at #1 in September 2003 with sales of 317,000. Continuum debuted (and peaked) at #2 in September 2006 with sales of 300,000.

It's getting harder for even big stars to maintain past sales levels, as we see this week with disappointing first-week sales numbers by Norah Jones and 50 Cent. Jones' The Fall opens at #3 with first-week sales of 180,000, less than

Billboard has seen the light. Starting in two weeks, the magazine's flagship The Billboard 200 album chart will include older "catalog" albums. The move was prompted by Michael Jackson's phenomenal success this year, little of which was reflected on The Billboard 200. Jackson's Number Ones was the best-selling album in the country for six weeks this summer, but because the 2003 release was a catalog album, it wasn't allowed to appear on the big chart.

"The events of 2009, and the continuing creativity in the repackaging of catalog titles, have led us to conclude that the Billboard 200 would be best served presenting the true best-sellers in the country, without any catalog-related rules or stipulations, to our readers, the media and music fans" said Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard's director of charts.

Starting in two weeks, the magazine will base The Billboard 200 on Nielsen/SoundScan's Top Comprehensive Albums chart (which includes both current and catalog titles) instead of the Top

Carrie Underwood's Play On sold 318,000 copies last week, the biggest weekly sales tally for an album by a female artist so far in 2009. It's the biggest weekly sales tally for a country album since Rascal Flatts' Unstoppable started with sales of 351,000 in April. This ought to give Underwood a little extra confidence when she co-hosts tonight's Country Music Assn. Awards telecast with Brad Paisley.

Play On is Underwood's second album in a row to enter The Billboard 200 at #1. Carnival Ride debuted in the top spot in October 2007. The singer's debut album, Some Hearts, debuted (and peaked) at #2 in November 2005. All three of Underwood's albums have posted first-week sales of 315,000 or higher, which shows that she has a large and steady fan base.

Underwood this week becomes the second American Idol alum to top the 10 million mark in career album sales. Underwood, the show's Season 4 winner, has sold 10,168,000 albums, second only to Kelly Clarkson, the Season 1 champ, who has sold