Chart Watch
  • Chris Brown began 2009 as one of the hottest stars in pop and R&B. Both of his first two albums had made the top five and he had piled up an impressive string of seven top 10 hits on the Hot 100, including such massive hits as "Kiss Kiss" (featuring T-Pain), "No Air" (with Jordin Sparks) and "Forever." (And that tally doesn't even count top 10 hits by Bow Wow and Lil Mama on which he was merely "featured.")

    But then came the heavily-publicized Feb. 8 incident in which he battered his then-girlfriend Rihanna. This week, Brown's first album since the incident arrives on The Billboard 200. Graffiti debuts at #7 with first-week sales of 102,000. That's about one-third of what Brown's previous album, Exclusive, sold (294,000) when it debuted at #4 in November 2007. It's even below the first-week sales of Brown's debut album, Chris Brown, which started (at #2) with 154,000 in December 2005.

    Brown was probably hurt more than some other artists would have been because his actions were

    Read More »from Week Ending Dec. 13, 2009: Chris Brown’s Bad Year
  • What's the best-selling single of all time? That's a simple question with no easy answer. Or rather, two easy answers and one that was hard to arrive at. Let me explain. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is estimated to have to sold at least 30 million copies since its release in 1942. For decades, the song was widely regarded as the all-time best-seller. But 11 years ago, Elton John's "Candle In The Wind 1997" quickly sold a comparable number.

    Both songs were massive chart hits.

    "White Christmas" topped the Billboard pop chart for 11 weeks in 1942 and returned to the top spot in 1945 and 1946. It's the only song ever to reach #1 in three separate chart runs. The song was a chart fixture in nearly every holiday season through 1962. It amassed a total of 77 weeks on the chart, more than any other single ever.

    "Candle In The Wind 1997" entered the Hot 100 on Oct. 11, 1997 (55 years to the week after "White Christmas" debuted). It opened at #1 stayed on top for 14 consecutive weeks. The

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: The Two Biggest Hits Of All Time
  • 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

    Read More »from Week Ending Dec. 5, 2009: She’s This Year’s Josh Groban
  • Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas is virtually certain to wind up as the best-selling holiday album of 2009. The album, which has been #2 on The Billboard 200 for three straight weeks, has sold nearly three times as many copies as this year's #2 seasonal seller, Sting's If On A Winter's Night (which celebrates winter if not Christmas specifically).

    This is the second time that Bocelli has been part of the year's top-selling holiday album. He teamed with Celine Dion to sing "The Prayer" on her smash 1998 album These Are Special Times.

    Christmas is still three weeks away, but it's not too early to scroll back through the best-selling new holiday albums of each of the past 17 years. These best-sellers reflect a wide range of styles, from country (Garth Brooks) to new age (Enya). Two pop/jazz performers have had the top-selling new holiday album more than once. Kenny G led the pack three times. Harry Connick Jr. scored twice.

    Holiday albums have a part of the season since 1945, when Bing

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: Bring On Christmas!
  • Way back when, in the dim and distant past, women were referred to as "the weaker sex." It's a new day, baby. Female solo artists account for eight of the top 10 albums on The Billboard 200. Susan Boyle leads the pack as I Dreamed A Dream debuts at #1 with sales of 701,000. That's the biggest one-week sales total of 2009. It beats Eminem's Relapse, which sold 608,000 copies in its first week in May. It's also the biggest first-week sales tally in Nielsen/SoundScan history for a debut album by a female artist. It tops Ashanti, which opened with sales of 503,000 in April 2002.

    Two male solo artists (Andrea Bocelli and Adam Lambert) round out the top 10. This means that groups and duos are completely shut out of this week's top 10. (The highest-ranking group or duo is the contemporary Christian group Casting Crowns, which dips to #17 with its Christmas album, Peace On Earth.)

    Only one debut album in Nielsen/SoundScan history has sold more copies in its first week. That's Snoop Doggy

    Read More »from Week Ending Nov. 29, 2009: Women Take Charge
  • 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

    Read More »from Week Ending Nov. 22, 2009: Mayer Zooms As Boyle Looms
  • Bon Jovi lands its second straight #1 album with The Circle. The band also debuted at #1 in June 2007 with Lost Highway. This is the second time that Bon Jovi has had back-to-back #1 albums. It also topped The Billboard 200 in the late '80s with the back-to-back blockbusters Slippery When Wet and New Jersey. Bon Jovi became superstars in the heyday of "hair bands," which was roughly 1984 to 1991. Most of these acts fell out of favor long ago, but Bon Jovi just keeps on chugging. The Circle is the band's 10th top 10 album (not counting a 1990 solo album by Jon Bon Jovi).

    Other acts that transcended the "hair band" era include Motley Crue, which debuted at #4 with last year's Saints Of Los Angeles, and Van Halen, which hit #3 with a 2004 greatest hits set, The Best Of Both Worlds.

    The list of acts that didn't sustain for long includes Quiet Riot, which never returned to the top 10 after its 1983 debut Metal Health hit  #1; Twisted Sister, which never returned to the top 40 after 1984's

    Read More »from Week Ending Nov. 15, 2009: The Hair Band That Lasted
  • The Twilight Saga: New Moon was #1 at the box-office over the weekend, three weeks after its soundtrack album reached #1 on The Billboard 200. New Moon is the 23rd movie in the past 28 years to top the weekend box-office listings and also spawn a chart-topping soundtrack.

    It's hard enough to reach #1 in just one of these arenas. To top both charts is a remarkable achievement (as evidenced by the fact that it happens, on average, less than once a year.)

    The movie/soundtrack tie-in goes through hot and cold spells. We're definitely in an upswing. The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the fourth movie in a year to hit #1 at the box-office and generate a #1 soundtrack. It follows Michael Jackson's This Is It, Hannah Montana: The Movie and the first Twilight. This matches the frenetic pace from July 1997 to July 1998 when Men In Black, Titanic, City Of Angels and Armageddon all hit #1 at the box-office and spawned chart-topping soundtracks.

    The weekend box-office charts, dating back to January

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: #1 Movies, #1 Soundtracks
  • 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

    Read More »from Chart Watch Extra: Jackson Blitz Prompts Chart Change
  • 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

    Read More »from Week Ending Nov. 8, 2009: The Host With The Most

Pagination

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