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Chesney "Chairs" Charts; Bright Eyes Big
02/02/2005 3:35 PM, E! Online
David Jenison
Country powerhouse Kenny Chesney's timeout from the Nashville scene
to challenge Jimmy Buffett 's beach-party monopoly has paid off. Be As
You Are: Songs from an Old Blue Chair, which features island-themed
songs inspired by Chesney's sojourns in the British Virgin Islands and
will not be serviced to country radio, has just landed at number one.
Maybe it's the winter weather, but music buyers were in a
tropical mood as Be As You Are surfed its way to the top on sales
of 311,000 for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan
numbers. Chesney kicks off the Cruzan Rum-sponsored Somewhere in the Sun
tour this spring.
"This album goes out to anyone who lives
their life in flip-flops or who wishes that they could," writes Chesney
in the album's liner notes.
The singer's previous album,
When The Sun Goes Down, took the top spot on 550,000 first-week
copies early last year. The album went on to sell more than 3 million
copies for the year, making it the fourth-best-selling album of 2004.
Be As You Are is the singer's third straight number one bow on
the charts.
LeAnn Rimes, who first became a household name as
a teenager back in 1996, saw her latest effort This Woman open at
number three. Rimes, now 22, celebrates her womanhood by moving just
north of 100,000 copies.
But easily the biggest surprise on
the charts is the showing of indie hero Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes.
The Nebraska singer-songwriter--a headliner on last year's Concert for
Change Tour, sharing the stage with Bruce Springsteen , R.E.M . and John Fogerty --has burst out of his cult status with two albums
debuting in the top 20.
Going the route of Guns N' Roses and
Nelly, Oberst simultaneously released the alt-rock disc I'm Wide
Awake, It's Morning and the electronica-flavored Digital Ash in
a Digital Urn. The former moved 56,000 copies to open at number 10,
while the latter charted at 15 with nearly 46,000 copies.
The
rest of the Top 10 were holdovers, led by last week's chart ruler, the
Game's The Documentary, which fell to number two with 265,000
copies in its second week. Green Day's American Idiot checked in
at four, followed by Eminem 's Encore at five, John Legend's
Get Lifted at six, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz's Crunk
Juice at seven, Kelly Clarkson 's Breakaway at eight and
Usher's Confessions at nine.
The Geto Boys first album
in a decade, The Foundation, landed the reunited rappers at 19
with 42,000 copies sold. Indie queen Ani DiFranco followed at 49 with
Knuckle Down, while the Chemical Brothers danced their way to 59
with Push the Button.
A number of compilations also
scored solid debuts: Wow Gospel 2005 at 29, The World of Nat
King Cole at 41, One Tree Hill soundtrack at 51 and Chicago's
Love Songs at 57.
Other noteworthy debuts included
Anne Murray's All of Me at 66, Blaine Larsen's Off to Join the
World at 79, And They Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead's
Worlds Apart at 81 and Vanessa Williams' Everlasting Love
at 159 on the Billboard 200.
Here's a recap of the Top
10 albums of last week:
1. Be As You Are: Songs from an Old
Blue Chair, Kenny Chesney
2. The Documentary, The
Game
3. This Woman, LeAnn Rimes
4. American
Idiot, Green Day
5. Encore, Eminem
6. Get
Lifted, John Legend
7. Crunk Juice, Lil Jon & The East
Side Boyz
8. Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson
9.
Confessions, Usher
10. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning,
Bright Eyes
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