Chart Chat 12/16/09: New Release FAIL
December 16, 2009
Folks continue to run out in droves to buy Susan Boyle. The British singer’s “I Dreamed a Dream” spends a third week on top of the Billboard Album charts, moving 582,000 copies of her debut effort. In three weeks, “Dream” has sold a mind-boggling 1.8 million records. It is currently the fourth biggest selling album of 2009 and has a chance to catch Taylor Swift for the #1 crown with 2 weeks left.
As has been custom these past couple weeks, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli holds down the #2 spot with “My Christmas”. 400,000 copies slide across store shelves this week, giving Bocelli a grand total of 1.5 million sold in just six weeks.
The week’s top debut? The second volume of songs from the hit television show “Glee”. A collection of remade popular favorites from the likes of Kelly Clarkson, this soundtrack moved 173,000 copies to land at the #3 spot overall and also dislodges Michael Jackson’s “This is It” from the #1 spot on the Soundtrack charts after a six week run.
Other folks who put albums out last week are probably not as in the mood to celebrate as the “Glee” cast. Last week’s most high-profile debut was Chris Brown’s “Graffiti”. The album manages to come in at #7 with 107,000 copies sold. Not a bad amount, and it is the week’s biggest selling R&B album, but it’s also 1/3 of what his previous album, “Exclusive” sold in it’s first week. It’s also just a little more than half of what Rihanna’s latest album sold in its’ first week. Brown doesn’t sport this week’s only disappointing debut. Snoop Dogg bows all the way down at #23 with his latest, “Malice N Wonderland”, and Timbaland’s “Shock Value II” slides in at a lowly #36. The albums sell 59,000 and 39,000 copies respectively. All I can say to those numbers is “Yowsa!!”
One of this season’s surprise strong sellers comes from Canadian teenager Justin Bieber, who probably has swiped a large chunk of Brown’s audience. The Usher protege’s debut EP “My World” hangs in at #8. It’s scanned just under 400,000 copies in four weeks of release. Couple a teen-friendly artist with an agreeable price, and chances are, you’ll have a hit. Just ask Miley Cyrus, whose “Time of Our Lives” EP sits down at #20 and becomes the 20th album this year to cross the million sales mark.
Next week’s big chart news will be the debut of the new Alicia Keys album. With the Boyle and Bocelli juggernauts at full speed and without a big radio single, I’d say the chances of Keys scoring a #1 debut are kinda slim. Will she score her fifth consecutive chart topper? Stay tuned and catch us next week with another Chart Chat column.
This week’s Top 20 albums:
1) Susan Boyle “I Dreamed a Dream”
2) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
3) Glee Cast “Glee-The Music Vol. 2″
4) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
5) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
6) Lady GaGa “The Fame”
7) Chris Brown “Graffiti”
Justin Bieber “My World (EP)”
9) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
10) Gucci Mane “The State vs. Radric Davis”
11) Glee Cast “Glee-The Music Vol. 1″
12) Michael Jackson “This is It”
13) Various Artists “Now 32″
14) Lady GaGa “The Fame: Monster (EP)”
15) Norah Jones “The Fall”
16) Josh Groban “Noel”
17) Jimmy Buffett “Buffett Hotel”
18) Soundtrack “Twilight: New Moon”
19) 30 Seconds to Mars “This is War”
20) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives (EP)”
Chart Chat 12/9/09: Boyle and Bocelli Do it Again!!
December 9, 2009
Young folks might be the coveted consumers when it comes to most advertising campaigns, but this week’s Billboard Album Charts prove that it’s the grown-ups who are spending the money. Last week’s champion Susan Boyle spends a second week on top, adding another 527,000 copies to a two-week haul of 1.2 million. To put that in more eye-popping terms, after only two weeks, Boyle has the 10th best selling album of 2009.
Right behind Boyle is Italian crooner Andrea Bocelli, who has by far the year’s biggest selling Christmas album. 428,000 copies of “My Christmas” crossed counters this week, giving Bocelli a very impressive 1.1 million units scanned in 5 weeks. Look for both those albums to maintain those numbers through the month of December. At this point, the question is can Boyle sell enough units in the next three weeks to overtake Taylor Swift’s total, with is 2.5 million units so far this year. Considering Taylor’s reenergized sales, I’d say it’s possible but doubtful-she moves another 127,000 copies of “Fearless” this week to land at #3.
The week’s highest-and only notable-debut comes from R. Kelly. His much-delayed “Untitled” project debuts at #4 on the Top 200 and #1 on the R&B album chart. All of Kelly’s solo studio albums have debuted at #4 or higher on the charts, a streak that goes back to “12 Play” in 1993. However, a mediocre first week of 114,000 units hints that Kelly’s reign as the Pied Piper of R&B might be coming to a close.
The only other debut of note comes from 3rd place “American Idol” finisher Allison Iraheta. Her “Just Like You” manages a so-so #35 finish, with around 32,000 units sold. This season’s “Idol” finalists all appear to be washouts-Adam Lambert dives from #3 to #22 this week, while Kris Allen finds himself languishing at #52 in his third week.
The charts have taken a decidedly adult contemporary flavor these last couple weeks, as Moms and Dads are buying CDs (or people are buying CDs for their moms and dads). Most albums drop in sales considering it’s the week following Thanksgiving, but among the albums that increase this week are Michael Buble and Rod Stewart’s latest efforts. Also hanging tough is Norah Jones, who had a mediocre debut a few weeks back, but actually moves up three spots to #7 this week. Other albums that debuted that week aren’t faring as well-John Mayer’s former #1 slides down to #17, and 50 Cent’s “Before I Self Destruct” finds itself at 40.
Next week’s chart’s biggest debut might just be the new one from Jared Leto’s band 30 Seconds to Mars. Also look out for Chris Brown’s new album, which has allegedly been selling above expectations.
Here’s this week’s Top 20:
1) Susan Boyle “I Dreamed a Dream”
2) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
3) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
4) R. Kelly “Untitled”
5) Lady GaGa “The Fame”
6) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
7) Norah Jones “The Fall”
Michael Jackson “This is It”
9) Soundtrack “Twilight-New Moon”
10) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
11) Various “Now 32″
12) Justin Bieber “My World”
13) Lady GaGa “The Fame: Monster (EP)”
14) Josh Groban “Noel”
15) Casting Crowns “Peace on Earth”
16) Rihanna “Rated R”
17) John Mayer “Battle Studies”
18) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives (EP)”
19) Sting “If On a Winter’s Night…”
20) Glee Cast “Glee The Music Vol. 1″
America’s Top Ten: They Don’t Make ‘Em…
December 7, 2009
You can find just about anything on Youtube these days. I was just kind of bumming around the internet and for some reason I was compelled to search for episodes of “America’s Top Ten” with Casey Kasem. Lo and behold, Youtube user burtiscurtis09 has uploaded a handful of episodes, with the videos edited out (for copyright concerns). I watched like ten of these in a row-man, the nostalgia!! In an age where Billboard chart info is right at your fingertips, this probably seems primitive, but I lived for this show on Saturday mornings and afternoons back in the Eighties.
Man, Casey Kasem was kind of square. They replaced him with some really annoying young guy in the late Eighties, though. He was such a tool that you appreciated the relative cool of Casey.
Anyway, enjoy the episode. Man, if I could go back in time…
Billboard’s Biggest One-Hit Wonders of the Decade
December 7, 2009
So, the flow of new music is slowing down to a crawl and the music news front has seemed pretty stale these past couple of days. When business isn’t booming, it’s time to find fallback options, and thankfully the folks at Billboard mag have given us something fun to discuss today. Namely, the biggest one-hit wonders of the decade.
Now, let’s face facts. A hit single is lightning in a bottle for a lot of artists. It takes either a lot of talent or a great marketing job to maintain a career beyond a hit single or two. Looking through this list, you notice that the talent pool is a bit shallow. Most of these artists, quite simply, got lucky. Whether their song wound up being placed as the closing theme to the most popular show on TV while said show was at its’ peak (i.e. Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day”), or the artists were helped out by associations with Oprah (James Blunt), P. Diddy (Dream and Cassie) or Dr. Dre (Truth Hurts), in a lot of cases the success was due to something other than singular talent. Of course, there are exceptions, not to mention artists who may have been “one hit wonders” but aren’t flashes in the pan (like Macy Gray, Vanessa Carlton and Gnarls Barkley). However, a quick look down this list reveals very few instances of artists who deserved any sort of notoriety beyond that one lucky hit.
Enjoy the list…and the often horrid music that can only be expected from a list of one-hit wonders. Whoo boy. And I hoped to never have to hear “Bad Day” ever again.
Chart Chat 12/2/09: Boyle Burns Up the Charts!
December 2, 2009
Ladies and gentlemen, the highest first-week total for an album in 2009 is now owned by…Susan Boyle?
Yep, she first wowed ‘em on “Britain’s Got Talent”, and now a frumpy, middle-aged Brit has scored a first week better than Eminem, 50, Jay-Z, Britney, John Mayer and even the King of Pop’s last albums. “I Dreamed a Dream” starts with an amazing 701,000 units. It also broke records in Boyle’s native country, where it had the biggest-selling debut week in HISTORY.
Add in a #2 finish for Andrea Bocelli’s Christmas album and it’s fairly obvious to see who comprises the record-buying public these days. Expect these two albums to be the top sellers of the holiday season.
It’s hard to say whether Adam Lambert’s outrageous awards show appearance helped or hurt his sales. His “For Your Entertainment” bows at #3 this week with sales of 198,000 copies. For the sake of reference, last year’s second place finisher, David Archuleta, opened with 183K, and it’s fair to say Lambert’s gotten much more of a promotional push than Archie did. All things considered, I’d say those numbers are probably something of a disappointment.
Other debuts this week: Rihanna pops in at #4 with a so-so 181K (to be truthful, none of her albums has had especially strong first week sales, though), while Lady GaGa’s 8-track “Fame: Monster” EP crashes onto the charts with 174,000 sold. Right behind it? Lady GaGa’s original “Fame” LP, which has been repackaged with the additional tracks from “Monster”. That scanned 151,000 copies, making it the week’s biggest gainer.
The week’s biggest disappointment has to be Shakira’s “She Wolf”. Coming off of the wildly succesful “Oral Fixation” album and the hit “Hips Don’t Lie”, PLUS an “SNL” performance and a Rolling Stone cover, I’m sure the album was expected to do better than a #15 finish and 89,000 copies sold.
The American Music Awards, as expected, were a big catalyst for some of the chart jumps this week. Five-time winner Taylor Swift jumps 24% in scans this week to sell another 125K and inch closer to the 5 million sold mark on “Fearless” (she might reach it before the end of the year), while Michael Jackson’s “This is It” soundtrack jumps 13% to 108,000 sold this week, putting it a week or so away from a million sales.
John Mayer takes a bit of a tumble, as “Battle Studies” falls from 1-13 with just over 92K sold, bringing it’s two week total to a not-bad 400,000 copies. Still, that drop has got to be alarming, as was Bon Jovi’s 1-19 fall last week. However, that’s not the biggest chart drop in history. Incubus’s last album, “Light Grenades” freefell 1-37 in it’s second week out. And it still wound up selling 800,000 copies. So, a large drop isn’t necessarily a death knell.
Altogether a nice Thanksgiving week. 12 albums sold more than 100,000 copies, giving us a taste of the good old days. Sales should drop sharply for all titles next week, as relatively normal buying habits resume. Boyle should retain her #1 title, with albums from Allison Iraheta and R. Kelly bowing in the Top Ten.
Here’s this week’s Top 20 albums:
1) Susan Boyle “I Dreamed a Dream”
2) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
3) Adam Lambert “For Your Entertainment”
4) Rihanna “Rated R”
5) Lady GaGa “The Fame Monster (EP)”
6) Lady GaGa “The Fame”
7) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives (EP)”
Taylor Swift “Fearless”
9) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
10) Norah Jones “The Fall”
11) Michael Jackson “This is It”
12) Various Artists “Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack”
13) John Mayer “Battle Studies”
14) Justin Bieber “My World”
15) Shakira “She Wolf”
16) Various Artists “Now 32″
17) Casting Crowns “Peace on Earth”
18) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
19) Glee Cast “Glee-the Music Vol. 1″
20) 50 Cent “Before I Self Destruct”
Chart Chat 11/25/09: Who Says John Mayer Can’t Hit #1?
November 25, 2009
Singer/songwriter John Mayer can give thanks to his fans this week. His fourth album, “Battle Studies”, debuts atop the Billboard album chart this week. Just under 286,000 copies of Mayer’s album were sold in the past week. It’s Mayer’s second chart-topper. His first week album sales have been remarkably consistent. His previous studio album, “Continuum”, debuted at #2 (behind Justin Timberlake) with a shade under 300K, while his previous album, “Heavier Things”, debuted at the top with 316K.
It’s a big week for new releases: 5 of this week’s Top 6 albums are debuts. Norah Jones’ fourth studio album, “The Fall” becomes her first release to not hit #1, opening at #3 with 180,000 units. It’s a sharp drop off in sales for Jones, who sold over a million copies in a week of her second album, “Feels Like Home”, just a few short years ago. Although this is probably to be expected, seeing as Norah is not your typical pop artist and a lot of the earlier attention was likely due to her massive Grammy win the year before. A more alarming development would be at #5, where 50 Cent’s “Before I Self Destruct” starts with a mediocre 160,000 units. Each of Fiddy’s three previous studio albums started with more than 500,000 copies, and this album had the benefit of TWO full weeks of digital sales. Any way you look at those numbers, it’s a huge disappointment and probably a blow to the ego of Mr. Cent, who will very likely find something to blame it on other than the fact that his music sucks. The other two big debuts come from contemporary Christian outfit Casting Crowns at #4 (167K) and Usher protege Justin Bieber, with a surprising 137K at #6.
The problem with releasing so many albums in a given week is that there will inevitably be flops that probably wouldn’t tank so hard if they were released at other times. The 11-20 spots house quite a few albums that performed below expectations. “American Idol” Kris Allen gets off to the worst-ever start by an “AI” champ, with a #11 debut and 80,000 sold. Two spots later, Leona Lewis, whose debut album started at #1 and sold two million copies, falls victim to the sophomore jinx. Her “Echo” starts at an unlucky #13 with 67K. Ryan Tedder might be an all-star songwriter, with hits like Lewis’s “Bleeding Love” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone”, but his band, OneRepublic, is still B-list, with a #19 placing and 39K sold for their sophomore release, “Waking Up”, while Janet Jackson anchors the week’s top 20 albums with 37K sold of her “Number Ones” album. A lengthy ABC-TV interview apparently didn’t do much to goose sales.
In the “fail” category, we have last week’s #1 album, Bon Jovi’s “The Circle”. Jon, Richie and company drop a whopping 17 spots down to #18 with their latest album, one of the sharpest second-week falls in recent memory. Meanwhile, former “it” band Fall Out Boy manages a weak #68 debut with their Greatest Hits album (a bit premature, maybe?). Finally in disappointing chart news, R&B group Pretty Ricky not only lost lead singer Pleasure P, they seem to have lost their fans as well. Their last album debuted at the top, but their third effort, a self-titled affair, starts at a lowly #85, with just under 9,000 units sold. Yes, I said 9,000 units.
In more cheery news, the “Twilight: New Moon” soundtrack has come back to life since the movie’s record-breaking release. It only moves up two spots on the chart, from 10-8, but increases 77% in sales, scanning a handsome 93,000 units, bringing its’ total to over 500,000 copies.
Next week, Susan Boyle is widely expected to take the #1 crown with her debut album, but watch out for Lady GaGa’s “Fame” reissue. Her release might be hurt by the fact that it’s available in two separate configurations, but she might give Boyle a run for her money. It’s a battle of unattractive women! Where’s Fergie when you need her?
Here’s this week’s Top 20 albums:
1) John Mayer “Battle Studies”
2) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
3) Norah Jones “The Fall”
4) Casting Crowns “Until the Whole World Hears”
5) 50 Cent “Before I Self Destruct”
6) Justin Bieber “My World”
7) Michael Jackson “This is It”
Various Artists “Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack”
9) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
10) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
11) Kris Allen “Kris Allen”
12) Them Crooked Vultures “Them Crooked Vultures”
13) Leona Lewis “Echo”
14) Various Artists “Now That’s What I Call Music 32″
15) Paul McCartney “Good Evening New York City”
16) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
17) Glee Cast “Glee Soundtrack, Vol. 1″
18) Bon Jovi “The Circle”
19) OneRepublic “Waking Up”
20) Janet Jackson “Number Ones”
Jay-Z Hits #1…For The First Time?!??!??!??*
November 19, 2009
In the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart published today, Jay-Z rises up to unseat Owl City at the #1 position with “Empire State of Mind”. No big deal, you say? Well, consider this: “Empire State of Mind” is Jigga’s FIRST number one single ever.
Sort of.
Jay has never hit the top of the charts as a lead artist before. He HAS hit the #1 spot three times before as a featured artist. First there was Mariah Carey’s “Heartbreaker” in 1999, then Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” in 2003. Most recently there was his guest rap on Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in 2007. But no song from an actual Jay-Z album has ever hit #1. Not “Can I Get A…”, not “I Just Wanna Love You (Give it To Me)”, not “99 Problems”. So, congrats Jay. Although when you consider that the man has 11 #1 albums, this may not be such a big deal for him…
And while I’m writing, a few words about Jay’s nemesis, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. 50’s “Before I Self Destruct” is on track to open with about 160,000 copies sold in it’s opening frame, a sharp fall from the first weeks of his three previous albums. It will be trumped on next week’s Billboard charts by John Mayer’s “Battle Studies”, which should open with about 300,000 copies sold. To add insult to injury, neo-classical singer Andrea Bocelli, contemporary Christian outfit Casting Crowns and Norah Jones could all potentially sell more than 50 this week, which would leave him with a quite lame (for him) #5 entry on next week’s charts. Of course, it’s only Thursday and anything could happen (like Interscope Records sending a battalion of minions out to buy copies of 50’s album and inflate the sales numbers), but this has gotta be a blow to Fiddy’s massive ego and perhaps a sign that the hip-hop audience has finally gotten smart and moved beyond his tired gangsterisms.
Chart Chat 11/18/09: Bon Jovi Rules, Britney Sinks
November 18, 2009
Since Billboard is going to start using the Comprehensive Album chart in a couple of weeks, let’s just get a jump and start using it from now going forward.
In a hotly contested week for new releases, Bon Jovi lands at the top of the heap this week. 26 years into a successful career, the band scores yet another number one album with “The Circle” (if my calculations are correct, it’s their fourth, and second straight #1 debut). Jon and Co. start with a not-bad 163,000 sold. Not gangbusters, but then again Bon Jovi have never had particularly mind-blowing first weeks, at least not in the Soundscan era.
Rock bands take the next three debuts, as Flyleaf enters at #8, Switchfoot’s new one comes in at #15, and Dashboard Confessional starts at #21. D.C. rapper Wale opens at #23, and there’s a good chance that number would have been higher if Wale’s record company had moved more units into stores. I rarely have trouble finding anything in Boston, and there were two different stores in Boston that didn’t have product on Tuesday.
The most disappointing debut of the week has to be Britney Spears’ “Singles Collection”. Although it features the #1 single “3″, “Singles” debuts at a comparatively anemic #25, with 27,000 copies sold.
A bigger story than this week’s debuts would be the effect of the Country Music Awards on sales this week. Artist of the year Taylor Swift gets a 30% bump to jump back up to #5, Lady Antebellum jumps 130% in sales to land at #13, and best new artist winner Darius Rucker sees his solo debut jump 80% in sales to jump to #30.
Next week, there should be a very tight battle for the #1 spot. The front-runners are Norah Jones and 50 Cent, who both have had albums score first weeks of a million-plus. But there’s also John Mayer as well as dark horse Kris Allen. We could be looking at a completely new Top 10 at this time next week! Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, here’s this week’s Top 20
1) Bon Jovi “The Circle”
2) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
3) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
4) Michael Jackson “This is It”
5) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
6) Various Artists “Now That’s What I Call Music 32″
7) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
Flyleaf “Memento Mori”
9) Soundtrack “Glee”
10) Soundtrack “Twilight: New Moon”
11) Casting Crowns “Peace on Earth”
12) Taylor Swift “The Holiday Collection”
13) Lady Antebellum “Lady Antebellum”
14) Sting “If On a Winter’s Night”
15) Switchfoot “Hello Hurricane”
16) Tim McGraw “Southern Voice”
17) Zac Brown Band “Foundation”
18) Jay-Z “Blueprint 3″
19) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
20) Owl City “Ocean Eyes”
Chart Chat 11/10/09: Carrie-On To The Top!!
November 11, 2009
As expected. Carrie Underwood enters the Billboard Album chart at the #1 position with her new album “Play On”. 318,00 country fans made their way over to the cash registers for this one, making it Carrie’s third consecutive chart topper. While it’s less than the 527,000 scans her second album, “Carnival Ride” garnered in it’s debut week, it’s about on pace with what her debut, “Some Hearts” scored in it’s first week (314,000). That particular album went on to sell 7 million copies. While I think the chances of that happening again are pretty much nil, it does look like Carrie has a hit on her hands.
“Play On” is the highest of the 5 debuts in this week’s Top Ten. Andrea Bocelli’s holiday album, “My Christmas” enters at #3 with a healthy 149,000 units sold. Expect this to be the holiday-themed blockbuster of 2009. Right behind it is the first soundtrack for the TV series “Glee” (easily the highest-charted television soundtrack in recent memory). The 32nd version of the “Now That’s What I Call Music” series checks in at #5 with 102K, while Weezer’s latest, “Raditude”, opens up at a mediocre #7 with 66K sold. The Foo Fighters and Slayer also bow in the Top 20, at positions 11 and 12, respectively.
If you thought people were waiting with baited breath for the return of R&B thrush Amerie, you were wrong. Her Def Jam debut, “In Love & War” starts off at an anemic #46 with 13,000 units sold. Her previous two albums were Gold sellers. It’s safe to say “War” will not follow that trend.
Thanks to a reissue with bonus tracks, Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” has overtaken Michael Jackson’s “Number Ones” for the title of biggest selling album of 2009. Swift’s album has sold 2.1 million units this year, a scant 30,000 units more than MJ’s 2003 hits package. At this stage, it’s still anyone’s game.
Over on the digital download side, Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette” opens with a healthy 132,000 downloads, landing at #4 on this week’s chart, behind Owl City’s “Fireflies”, Iyaz’s “Replay” and Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”. For sake of comparison, Chris Brown’s latest, “I Can Transform Ya” sits at #17 in it’s fifth week out.
Next week, Carrie could score a second week at the top if the dropoff isn’t too sharp. She’ll be competing with the new one from Bon Jovi and a hits package from Britney Spears. Who’ll come out on top? Check back with us in 7 days!! In the meantime, here’s this week’s complete top 20.
1) Carrie Underwood “Play On”
2) Michael Jackson “This is It”
3) Andrea Bocelli “My Christmas”
4) Soundtrack “Glee Vol. 1″
5) Various Artists “Now That’s What I Call Music 32″
6) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
7) Weezer “Raditude”
Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
9) Sting “If on a Winter’s Night”
10) Soundtrack “Twilight: New Moon”
11) Foo Fighters “Greatest Hits”
12) Slayer “World Painted Blood”
13) Rod Stewart “Soulbook”
14) Creed “Full Circle”
15) Jay-Z “Blueprint 3″
16) Tim McGraw “Southern Voice”
17) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
18) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”
19) Owl City “Ocean Eyes”
20) Casting Crowns “Peace on Earth”
Billboard Changes Chart Methodology: The Michael Jackson Rule?
November 9, 2009
Billboard announced this morning that they are revising their chart methodology so that older albums can appear on the Top 200 album chart. Previously, albums were removed from the chart after 2 years (which was changed to 78 weeks fairly recently).
This will result in some significant changes to the make up of the album chart. Particularly when it comes to albums that are perennials, like Bob Marley’s “Legend”, or to use a more recent example, Guns ‘n Roses’ “Greatest Hits”. It’s hard not to imagine that this change was spurred on by recent sales by Michael Jackson and The Beatles. There was an uproar last year when MJ’s 25th anniversary “Thriller” wasn’t allowed to chart even though it would have debuted at #2. After Jackson’s death in June, several of his albums spiked in sales, led by “Number Ones”, which would have placed at #1 for a couple of weeks had it not been for the chart rule. More recently, a bunch of Beatles reissues were prevented from charting, even though several would have placed in the Top Twenty.
This rule will hurt some new artists, who would get a boost just for the simple fact that their album charted. It will also limit the amount of turnover on the chart, as I guarantee you will see some titles on that list for years at a time. But I think that if you’re going to publish a chart featuring the top selling albums in the country, it should actually be a chart of the top selling albums in the country, release date be damned.
What do y’all think?
