Chart Watch

  • Kanye West's fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, debuts at #1 with first-week sales of 450,000. That's less than half of what West's last album, Graduation, sold in its first week in September 2007. Graduation sold 957,000 copies out-of-the-chute, boosted by West's high-profile face-off with rival 50 Cent and by a monster single, "Stronger," which hit #1 on the Hot 100 the same week the album debuted at #1. West's second album, Late Registration, opened with sales of 860,000 in September 2005, boosted by similar factors. West had stirred national controversy on Sept. 2 with explosive comments ("George Bush doesn't care about black people") during a post-Katrina telethon on NBC-TV. Also, his single "Gold Digger" hit #1 on the Hot 100 the week the album topped the chart.

    West hasn't picked a fight with anybody lately, and his recent singles, while successful, haven't reached #1 on the Hot 100. "Love Lockdown" has climbed as high as #3; "Heartless" has reached #4.

    The fall-off can't be

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  • It's said that every U.S. Senator looks in the mirror and sees a future President. In much the same way, every group member sees an eventual solo superstar. For a lucky few, that dream comes true. For even fewer, the solo career exceeds the group's achievements.

    Beyonce joins the short list of one-time members of major groups who have done even better on their own. I Am...Sasha Fierce this week becomes her third consecutive studio album to debut at #1. Dangerously In Love and B'Day also opened in the top spot. Beyonce has now had more #1 albums on her own than she did with Destiny's Child. That group notched two #1 albums--Survivor in 2001 and #1's in 2005.

    Beyonce also has the top two songs this week on Hot Digital Songs. The sassy "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" debuts at #1, dethroning her striking ballad "If I Were A Boy," which slips to #2. Beyonce has had five #1 hits on this chart, putting her in a tie with Rihanna for the most #1 digital hits ever by a lead artist.

    "Single

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  • Most music lists are so flattering that any artist would love to be on them. The most #1 hits! The longest-running #1 albums! The most Grammys! It's an endless orgy of the first, the fastest, the longest and the greatest.

    This is a list that no artist would want to be on. These are the worst-selling #1 albums between May 1991, when Nielsen/SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard, and the end of 2006. (I excluded 2007 and 2008 albums on the theory that they're still adding to their totals. Also, singling out low-selling albums from the past two years, when sales have been down industry-wide, would be like shooting fish in a barrel.)

    Let me reiterate that all of these albums reached #1. (In fact, they all debuted at #1.) For one week (tellingly, none managed a second week on top) each of these albums was the best-seller in America. But they didn't sustain over the long haul. None of these 25 albums has sold more than 830,000 copies over the course of its entire run. Lil' Wayne did

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  • P!nk has been a star for nearly a decade, but until this week she'd never cracked the top five on The Billboard 200. That changes as her new album Funhouse debuts at #2. Two of Pink's previous releases, M!ssundaztood and I'm Not Dead, climbed as high as #6.

    Funhouse features "So What," a recent #1 hit on both the Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songs. The song rebounds to #5 in its 11th week on the latter chart. It has sold 1,851,000 downloads over the course of its run, which puts it at #76 on Nielsen/SoundScan's all-time list of songs with the most paid downloads. It's P!nk's most successful download to date. "U + Ur Hand" is #116 (with sales of 1,473,000). "Who Knew" is #148 (with sales of 1,326,000). (P!nk's 2001 party anthem "Get The Party Started" was released before the downloading era began.)

    P!nk is the last member of the sassy quartet that performed the 2001 smash "Lady Marmalade" to land a top five album. Christina Aguilera reached the top five with her debut album in 1999.  Lil'

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  • Evidently, lots of people decided to pick up AC/DC's Black Ice when they were at Wal-Mart buying their Halloween candy. The album enters The Billboard 200 at #1, with an eye-popping sales tally of 784,000. That's the second biggest debut of 2008, trailing only Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, which started in June with sales of 1,006,000. Black Ice had a bigger first week than Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, which started in June with sales of 721,000. AC/DC's tally represents the biggest first-week by a rock album since U2's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb started with sales of 840,000 in November 2004. It's the biggest debut ever by a mainstream hard rock album. (A pair of alternative-metal bands, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, got off to faster starts.)

    It's also the biggest debut ever for an "exclusive"--an album sold in only one retail chain. It tops Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden, which opened with sales of 711,000 in November. Both of these albums are Wal-Mart

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  • Which country artist has had the most #1 albums on The Billboard 200 in this decade? Just last week, the correct answer would have been that it was a tie between Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson, with four #1 albums each since 2000. But with Lucky Old Sun debuting on top this week, Chesney pulls ahead and lands his fifth #1 album, all in this decade.

    Only one country artist, Garth Brooks, has more #1 albums in the entire 63-year history of Billboard's album chart. Brooks landed eight #1 albums from Ropin' The Wind in 1991 through Scarecrow in 2001.

    Among all artists, not just country, Chesney is tied for second place for the most #1 albums in this decade. Jay-Z leads the field with nine #1 albums since 2000. R. Kelly is tied with Chesney with five chart-toppers in this decade.

    Chesney had four straight #1 studio albums from No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems in 2002 through The Road And The Radio in 2005, but then peaked at #3 in September 2007 with Just Who I Am: Poets And Pirates. That

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  • Bob Dylan lands his 18th top 10 album on The Billboard 200 this week as Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 enters the chart at #6. Only five artists have amassed more top 10 albums since Billboard published its first album chart (a top 10 listing) in March 1945.

    A total of 14 artists have accumulated 15 or more top 10 albums since 1945. The list includes many of the greatest stars in recording history. Most of these acts are still adding to their totals. Twelve have had top 10 albums within the last five years. Ten have reached the top 10 within just the last two years.

    Frank Sinatra is the act with the most top 10 albums (40) and also the act with the longest span of top 10 albums (62 years). Ol' Blue Eyes landed his first top 10 album in the first year of Harry S. Truman's presidency. He landed his most recent in the last year of George W. Bush's.

    I counted only albums that made the top 10 on The Billboard 200, not on such lower-profile charts as Top Catalog Albums or Top

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Pagination

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News for You

  • Restaurant learns online reviews can make or break

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.

  • The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

    NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.

  • Singer Kellie Pickler named new 'Dancing' champ

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kellie Pickler came into the final "Dancing With the Stars" episode in second place but finished in first.

  • Woman on Trump: 'Somebody had to stand up to him'

    CHICAGO (AP) — An 87-year-old woman who alleges Donald Trump cheated her in a skyscraper-condo sale told jurors Monday she had qualms about suing the real estate mogul and TV celebrity. But, she quickly added, "Somebody had to stand up to him."

  • Douglas, Damon dramatize a steamy show-biz affair

    NEW YORK (AP) — The idea of Michael Douglas playing Liberace might seem nearly as outrageous as Liberace himself.

  • Singer Kellie Pickler jives to victory on "Dancing With the Stars"

    By Andrea Burzynski NEW YORK (Reuters) - Country singer Kellie Pickler won the 16th season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday night, winning over judges and TV audiences with her graceful style and high-jumping jives with partner and professional dancer Derek Hough. Pickler, who first grabbed attention as a contestant on "American Idol" in 2006, screeched and jumped up and down when she learned she had won. "This is amazing! Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, before fellow finalist and NFL player Jacoby Jones hoisted her on his shoulders to celebrate. ...

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