Week Ending Aug. 26, 2012. Albums: Adele Finally Exits Top 10

This week, for the first time since it was released in February 2011, Adele's 21 does not rank among the top 10 albums on The Billboard 200. It drops from #8 to #12, ending (at least for now) a 78-week run in the top 10. 21 is one of only five albums to log 78 or more weeks in the top 10 since 1963, when Billboard merged its separate stereo and mono charts into one comprehensive listing. The others are The Sound OfMusic soundtrack (109 weeks), Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A. (84 weeks), Michael Jackson'sThriller (78 weeks) and Def Leppard'sHysteria (78 weeks).

Much has happened in the pop world since 21 was released. Amy Winehouse (whose success paved the way for Adele) died, as did Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Robin Gibb and Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys. Justin Bieber and Chris Brown both released two #1 albums. One Direction and 2Chainz debuted. Lionel Richie made an improbable comeback. Katy Perry tied Michael Jackson's record for most #1 hits from one album. American Idol crowned two more winners, Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips. The Voice debuted and stole some of Idol's thunder. Maroon 5 got its second wind.

21 has sold 9,736,000 copies in the U.S., which makes it the 22nd best-selling album since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard. Among albums released in the past 10 years, it's second only to Usher's Confessions (10,108,000). The four official singles from 21, "Rolling In The Deep," "Someone Like You," "Set Fire To The Rain" and "Rumour Has It," have sold a combined total of 18,593,000 copies. Adele's music video, Live At The Royal Albert Hall, has sold 955K copies.

Adele and Julie Andrews, the star of the aforementioned The Sound Of Music, have a fair amount in common. Both women were born in England. Both achieved tremendous success at a young age. Adele was 22 in February 2011 when 21 became her first #1 album. Andrews was just 20 in July 1956 when the Broadway cast album to My Fair Lady became her first #1 album. In 2000, Andrews was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Will Adele one day follow suit? Time will tell, but she's off to a good start.

I'm not sure how Trey Songz is going to react to this week's chart news. His new album, Chapter V, enters The Billboard 200 at #1, becoming his first #1 album. The hitch? The album sold 135K copies, a substantial drop from the 240K opening of his last album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure in September 2010. That album missed out on the #1 spot by just a hair over 1,000 copies (Linkin Park'sA Thousand Suns edged it out). This time around, it wasn't even close: Chapter V sold nearly three times as many copies as this week's #2 album.

Songz' sales tally includes 51K digital copies, which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums.

This is the second album titled Chapter V to reach #1. A Staind album with that same title debuted at #1 in August 2005. This marks the first time that a recycled album title has reached #1 since Adele's 21 hit the top in February 2011. Omarion had reached #1 with an album by that title in December 2006.

Each of Songz' five albums has climbed higher on the chart than the one before it, a neat trick. His 2005 debut I Gotta Make It reached #20. His 2007 follow-up Trey Day hit #11. Ready reached #3 in 2009. Passion, Pain & Pleasure hit #2 in 2010. And now Chapter V is #1.

DJ Khaled's

Kiss The Ring debuts at #4. It's the rapper's fourth top 10 album, following We The Best (#8 in 2008), We Global (#7 in 2008) and We The Best Forever (#5 in 2011). DJ Khaled has more top 10 albums than any other act whose name begins with the phrase "DJ." DJ Clue? is in second place, with two top 10 albums. DJ Quik and D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince each had one.

Incidentally, between DJ Khaled's showy ring and 2 Chainz' gold chains, there's a lot of bling on the covers of this week's top 10 albums.

Owl City's The Midsummer Station debuts at #7. It's the pop artist's third top 10 album. The album includes "Good Time," his collabo with Carly Rae Jepsen that cracks the top five on this week's Hot Digital Songs chart…Tenth Avenue North's The Struggle debuts at #9. This is the first top 10 album for the Contemporary Christian band. The Light Meets The Dark reached #15 in 2010.

I'm sure you know that last week Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" broke a record formerly held by Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for the largest first-week digital sales for a song by female artist. Swift's song sold 623K in its first week, compared to 448K for "Born This Way." But the saga doesn't end after just one week. Sales of Gaga's song actually increased in Week 2 (jumping by 14%), while sales of Swift's song dropped by 51%. In the first two weeks combined, "Born This Way" sold 957K, compared to 930K for Swift's hit. So Gaga remains ahead if you look at the first two weeks, rather than just the first week. (Both songs trail Flo Rida's "Right Round," which sold a record 1,096,000 copies in its first two weeks.) Will Swift hold on to the top spot on the Hot 100? You'll find out later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums.

The Top Five: Trey Songz's Chapter V debuts at #1 (135K). This is his third top five album… 2 Chainz' Based On A T.R.U. Story dips from #1 to #2 in its second week (48K)…Now 43 dips from #2 to #3 in its third week (45K)…DJ Khaled's Kiss The Ring debuts at #4 (41K). It's the rapper's fourth top 10 album… Justin Bieber's Believe rebounds from #6 to #5 in its 10th week (32K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time.

The Second Five: Maroon 5's Overexposed dips from #5 to #6 in its ninth week (32K). This is its eighth week in the top 10…Owl City's The Midsummer Station debuts at #7 (30K). It's the pop artist's third top 10 album…Rick Ross' God Forgives, I Don't drops from #3 to #8 in its fourth week (28K).…Tenth Avenue North's The Struggle debuts at #9 (26K). This is the Contemporary Christian band's first top 10 album… One Direction's Up All Night drops from #7 to #10 in its 24th week (25K). This is its 23rd week in the top 10.

Three albums besides Adele's 21 drop out of the top 10 this week. Insane Clown Posse's Mighty Death Pop dives from #4 to #35, Zac Brown Band's Uncaged drops from #9 to #16, Yellowcard's Southern Air plummets from #10 to #76. (Sales of the latter album dove by 79%, from 23K last week to 5K this week. This week, the title should be Gasping For Air.)

Dustin Lynch's

debut album Dustin Lynch debuts at #13. It bows at #1 on Top Country Albums. It's the first debut album to enter the country chart at #1 since Scotty McCreery'sClear As Day in October 2011, about four months after he won Season 10 of American Idol. Lynch's "Cowboys And Angels" is just outside the top 10 on Hot Country Songs.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's Last Of A Dyin' Breed debuts at #14. The Southern rock band first cracked the top 20 in October 1974 with Second Helping (the album that included "Sweet Home Alabama"). The band had three top 10 albums from 1975 to 1977…Dispatch's Circles Around The Sun debuts at #24.

The Sparkle soundtrack drops from #21 to #25 in its fourth week. It's #1 on Top Soundtracks for the fourth week. The soundtrack from the original Sparkle was the top-ranking soundtrack for 20 weeks in 1976. Aretha Franklin, who sang the songs in the original movie, and Whitney Houston, who sings two numbers in the reboot, recorded a duet in 1989: "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be." The song peaked at #41 on the Hot 100, a disappointing showing given the name power involved. The song was from Franklin's album Through The Storm.

Bob Marley & the Wailers'

1984 smash Legend drops from #18 to #26 in its 237th week on the chart. This is its 113rd week at #1 on Top Catalog Albums since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard. It's the first time that Legend has spent two consecutive weeks at #1 since January 2008. Legend was released during the Jacksons' Victory Tour; about six weeks before the first VMA Awards were presented on MTV.


Emeli Sande's

Our Version Of Events logs its fifth week at #1 on The Official U.K. chart, which ties Adele's 21 for the most weeks on top there so far in 2012. Sande's album is just 6K copies behind 21 as the best-selling album in the U.K. so far this year. It has sold nearly 647K copies since its release in February. 21 has sold 653K so far this year. Our Version Of Events debuted and peaked at #28 on The Billboard 200 in June. It has sold 45K copies in the U.S.

One Direction's Up All Night: The Live Tour is #1 on Top Music Videos for the 13th week. The DVD sold 9K copies this week, bringing its 13-week total to 276K.

The Expendables 2 was #1 at the box-office for the second straight weekend. The original Expendables movie was #1 for two weekends in August 2010.

Coming Attractions: Toby Mac'sEye On It and Slaughterhouse'sWelcome To Our Houseare expected to debut at #1 and #2 next week, in that order. Toby Mac will probably sell around 60K. Slaughterhouse, around 50K. Alanis Morissette'sHavoc And Bright Lights will probably debut at #4, with sales in the 35K range. Also due: Circa Survive'sViolentWaves, Dwele'sGreater Than One.