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?

Chart Chat 11/4/09: Yup, More MJ News

November 4, 2009

Surprising absolutely no one, Michael Jackson rules the Billboard Album Charts this week. The soundtrack to the movie “This is It” opens at the top spot with an impressive 373,000 units sold. An additional 6,000 units of the iTunes only collection of the album’s demos were also sold. The buzz around “This is It” was so intense that even the debut album by the intended tour’s guitarist, Orianthi, debuts at #125 this week with over 4,000 units sold. The King of Pop leads a busy pack of debuts this week, followed by the return of Creed. “Full Circle”, the band’s first studio album since 2002, opens at #2 with just under 110,000 copies sold. That’s barely 300 more units than the expanded edition of Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” sold, catapulting the already 4X Platinum album to #3 on this week’s chart. “Fearless” also becomes the second album to cross the 2 million barrier in sales so far in 2009, joining MJ’s “Number Ones” collection. The new songs on “Fearless”, all of which have been made available a la carte via download services, litter the Top 20 of the digital singles sales chart this week. For a second week, that particular chart is led by Christian synth-pop outfit Owl City with “Fireflies”.

Also entering the charts this week, the new collection of soul standards by Rod Stewart (#4), holiday collections by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Sting at numbers 5 and 6, and a live album by Jack Johnson at #11.

In the “all publicity is good publicity” column, we have Lil Wayne. “Tha Carter III” increases 3% in scans this week, no doubt due to the headlines surrounding Weezy’s upcoming jail term.

Next week, Carrie Underwood is expected to debut at the top with her new album “Play On”. Strong debuts are also expected from “Now That’s What I Call Music 32″, the “Glee” cast album, Weezer’s new one, and a Greatest Hits collection from the Foo Fighters.

Here’s this week’s Top 20 albums.

1) Michael Jackson “This is It”
2) Creed “Full Circle”
3) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
4) Rod Stewart “Soulbook”
5) Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Night Castle”
6) Sting “If On a Winter’s Night…”
7) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
Various Artists “Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack”
9) Tim McGraw “Southern Voice”
10) Jay-Z “The Blueprint 3″
11) Jack Johnson “En Concert”
12) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
13) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”
14) The Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.”
15) Tech N9ne “K.O.D.”
16) The Swell Season “Strict Joy”
17) Wolfmother “Cosmic Joy”
18) Train “Save Me, San Francisco”
19) Atreyu “Congregation of the Damned”
20) Owl City “Ocean Eyes”

Chart Chat 10/22/09: Buble-Licious!!

October 22, 2009

That may have been the worst pun I’ve ever made in my life.

So, as the headline suggests, Canuck crooner Michael Buble holds at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart with “Crazy Love”. The album sells 203,000 units in it’s first full week of release. It debuted early after his label pushed the release date up 4 days. I remember reading somewhere (of course, I can’t find the article now) that said that he and Norah Jones are the only artists in history to debut at #1 without having had a single Top 40 hit. Interesting.

Three albums debut in the Top 20 this week. The “New Moon” soundtrack enters at #2 with 115,000 copies sold. Of course, “New Moon” is the latest edition in the “Twilight” series. The “Twilight” soundtrack was a smash, selling over 2 million copies. It will be interesting to see if this soundtrack does as well. All indications point to it, considering the sales numbers are this high with a month till release. The other debuts in the Top 20 come from alt-rock legends The Flaming Lips (at #8) and R&B singer Mario (#9).

The Black Eyed Peas return to the Top Ten with a flourish. “The E.N.D.” jumps from #23 to #6 this week, thanks to rapidly increasing airplay for their latest single, “Meet Me Halfway”, which is #9 on the singles charts this week. Another act with a hot single to watch out for is Owl City. Thanks to the success of the single “Fireflies” (which my buddy Paul turned me on to, thanks!!), the one-man band project jumps from #32 to #20 this week.

It’s beginning to look a LOT like Christmas! Holiday albums from Bob Dylan (#23) and David Archuleta (#30) debut on this week’s chart.

On the singles side of things, Britney Spears drops out of the top spot after a single week with “3″. The racy single slips to #5 in its second week on the charts. Jay Sean’s “Down” advances one spot to reclaim the #1 spot after yielding to Britney last week.  Aside from the previously mentioned Black Eyed Peas jump, the other major news comes from John Mayer, who scores his highest Hot 100 debut ever with “Who Says”. John’s gonna have to count on a lot of downloads if he wants this to hit the top-radio’s not gonna be so crazy about a song whose first line is “who says I can’t get stoned?” Somewhat strangely, although many people think of John as a radio darling, he has never had a Top 10 hit. “Say” peaked at #12, “No Such Thing” stalled at #13 and “Waiting for the World to Change” ran out of gas at #14.

Below the Top 20, Chris Brown blasts 52-27 with his latest single, “I Can Transform Ya”.  We forgive easy, don’t we?

Next week, the “New Moon” soundtrack will do battle with Tim McGraw for the chart crown. We’ll see who wins in our next Chart Chat column.

Oh, here’s this week’s Top 20 albums. Scroll down to the end to see a special treat.

1) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”

2) Various Artists “Twilight-New Moon Soundtrack”

3) Jay-Z “The Blueprint 3″

4) Barbra Streisand “Love is the Answer”

5) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”

6) Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)”

7) “Fearless” Taylor Swift

“Embryonic” The Flaming Lips

9) “D.N.A.” Mario

10) “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” Mariah Carey

11) “Sonic Boom” Kiss

12) “American Ride” Toby Keith

13) “Dear Agony” Breaking Benjamin

14) “Foundation” Zac Brown Band

15) “I Look to You” Whitney Houston

16) “Brand New Eyes” Paramore

17) “Number Ones” Michael Jackson

18) ‘Black Gives Way to Blue” Alice in Chains

19) “Only by the Night” Kings of Leon

20) “The Fame” Lady Gaga

In honor of the Black Eyed Peas’ new single, let’s retreat back to the year 1987, when another singer scored a huge hit with a song called “Meet Me Halfway”. That singer? Mr. Kenny Loggins.

Chart Chat 10/15/09: Britney Makes History

October 15, 2009

Let’s start this week’s column with a pat on the back…for us. Not too long ago, we recorded our 1,000th post!! Yay us!! Now, back to the chart action.

Michael Buble makes an impressive bow at #1 on this week’s album chart with his new album, “Crazy Love”. It’s Buble’s second chart-topper, and it’s notable because “Crazy Love” was released on a Friday, which means that it rang up it’s total of 132,000 copies in only three days. Buble beats out rock legends KISS, who score the highest-charting album of their career with “Sonic Boom”. That Wal-Mart exclusive enters at the runer-up spot with 108,000 copies sold. It’s the band’s second-highest one week total of the SoundScan era.

Other notable debuts come from Toby Keith, whose new album enters at #3, the Backstreet Boys, who score their 7th consecutive Top 10 album at #9, and Bebe & Cece Winans, who return after a decade and a half off to land at #14 with their new album, “Still”. This week’s FAIL goes to Fat Joe. Despite allegedly making peace with Jay-Z while at the same time continuing his beef with 50 Cent, “Jealous Ones Still Envy 2″ opens at an anemic #73, with just over 8,000 copies sold.

The real noise, however, is on the singles chart, where Britney Spears’ “3″ debuts at #1. While it’s still climbing the airplay chart, it explodes onto the digital download chart at the top with 255,000 downloads sold this week. It’s the third #1 single of Britney’s career, and it’s also the first song to debut at #1 on the singles chart in three years, since Taylor Hicks’ “Do I Make You Proud”. It’s the first non-”American Idol” song to debut at the top this decade. While I must say that this song holds absolutely no appeal to me, I guess a congratulations are in order for Britney.

There’s some serious movement on the R&B singles chart this week as well, as several of the genre’s superstars make big jumps. Chris Brown’s “I Can Transform Ya” moves up to #18 in it’s third week on the chart, Usher’s “Papers” jumps from 60-17 in only it’s second week on the chart, and Michael Jackson’s “This is It” jumps onto the list at # 43 with only THREE HOURS of airplay in the tracking week. Looks for that to take a huge leap next week.

Also next week, look for the soundtrack to the “Twilight” sequel to make an impressive debut on the album chart, despite the fact that this is yet another Friday debut.

Oh, one more thing…congrats to Jay-Z, as “The Blueprint 3″ becomes the 12th album to cross the million-sold threshold this week. Jay joins Taylor Swift’s “Fearless”, the “Hannah Montana” soundtrack, Eminem, Lady GaGa, The Black Eyed Peas, Nickelback, Kings of Leon, U2, the “Twilight” soundtrack and two Michael Jackson albums (“Number Ones” and “Thriller”) as the only albums to scan a million units so far in 2009.

Here are this week’s Top 20 albums, according to Soundscan.

1) Michael Buble “Crazy Love”
2) Kiss “Sonic Boom”
3) Toby Keith “American Ride”
4) Barbra Streisand “Love is the Answer”
5) Jay-Z “The Blueprint 3″
6) Luke Bryan “Doin’ My Thing”
7) Mariah Carey “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel”
Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
9) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”
10) Backstreet Boys “This is Us”
11) Breaking Benjamin “Dear Agony”
12) Paramore “Brand New Eyes”
13) Alice in Chains “Black Gives Way to Blue”
14) Whitney Houston “I Look to You”
15) Bebe & Cece Winans “Still”
16) Relient K “Forget & Not Slow Down”
17) Pearl Jam “Backspacer”
18) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
19) Harry Connick Jr. “Your Songs”
20) Miranda Lambert “Revolution”

Chart Chat 10/7/09…Like Buttah?

October 7, 2009

So you thought this week’s #1 album was gonna be Paramore, huh? Or maybe the new one from Mariah Carey? Thought Madonna might have a shot?

WELL, YOU’RE WRONG, SUCKERS.

In a week filled with divas, the Grande Dame of them all came out on top. Barbra Streisand’s “Love is the Answer” scans 180,000 units to land at #1 on this week’s Billboard album chart. It’s the legend’s first #1 in twelve years, and her 9th #1 album overall-tops among female artists.

Paramore settles for the #2 position. “Brand New Eyes” beats the sophomore jink by selling 175,000 copies, while Mariah Carey’s “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” is shaping up to be a sales disappointment. Carey opens at #3 with 168K, less than half the total that greeted her in the first week of release of her last album, “E=MC2″ just last year!!

Babs, Paramore and Mariah lead a pack of 8 new releases in the Top 10-a new record. The only holdovers from last week’s Top 10 are Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3″, which slides 2-6, still riding the strength of two hit singles, and Pearl Jam’s “Backspacer”, which slides from the Number One spot to #10. The other releases debuting in the Top 10 come from Breaking Benjamin (#4), the reconfigured Alice in Chains (#5), Madonna (#7), Miranda Lambert (#8) and Selena Gomez (#9). How’s that for diversity? A little country, a little teen-pop, a little leftover grunge for ya.

Madonna’s album opens with a respectable 72K. Not bad when you consider that most people with a pulse have most of this material already and the two new songs aren’t especially memorable (and can be purchased a la carte on iTunes).

Further down the chart, AFI must be wondering where their fan base went. After scoring a chart-topper with their last album, Davey Havok and his crew manage a weak showing at #12 with their new one, “Crash Love”, only scanning 52,000 copies in it’s first week.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The first holiday album to debut on a chart this year is Michael McDonald’s “This Christmas”. The former Doobie opens at #95, with a whole 2 months to go before the holidays begin in earnest.

Next week, it looks like KISS will score the first #1 album of their career with “Sonic Boom”, underscoring the fact that the boomer generation is still buying records. This WalMart exclusive has been heavily publicized and it seems to be paying dividends.

Here’s a look at this week’s Top 20:

1) Barbra Streisand-Love is the Answer
2) Paramore-Brand New Eyes
3) Mariah Carey-Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
4) Breaking Benjamin-Dear Agony
5) Alice in Chains-Black Gives Way to Blue
6) Jay-Z-The Blueprint 3
7) Madonna-Celebration
Miranda Lambert-Revolution
9) Selena Gomez-Kiss & Tell
10) Pearl Jam-Backspacer
11) Miley Cyrus-Time of Our Lives EP
12) AFI-Crash Love
13) Whitney Houston-I Look to You
14) Harry Connick Jr.-Love Songs
15) Metalocolypse:Dethklok-Deth Album II
16) The Avett Brothers- I and Love and You
17) Three Days Grace-Life Starts Now
18) Lynyrd Skynyrd-God & Guns
19) Taylor Swift-Fearless
20) Drake-So Far Gone EP

Chart Chat 10/1/09: All About the Pearl Jam

October 1, 2009

Yet another busy week for new releases…and this week’s victor is Pearl Jam. Their “Backspacer” album bows at the top with 189,000 units sold. It’s the first #1 album from the rock legends since “No Code” back in 1997. Something worth noting about this release is that you won’t find it at Wal-Mart or FYE or Best Buy…”Backspacer” is only available through Target, iTunes and independent retailers. Support your local indie record store and keep people who really give a shit about music employed!

(jumps off soapbox)

Other notable debuts include rock bands Three Days Grace, Brand New and Five Finger Death Punch at #s 3, 6 and 7, singer/actor Harry Connick Jr. at #8, the David Crowder Band (who?) at #11, Welsh singer/songwriter David Gray at #12, and flamboyant British pop singer Mika at #19.

Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3″ hangs tough at #2 with 134,000 units. In 3 weeks, this album is less than 100,000 units away from Platinum status. Not bad, especially for a veteran clocking nearly 15 years in the biz.

Epic fail of the week has to go to reggae/pop singer Sean Kingston. After his debut album was a Gold success, and with a hot single “Fire Burning”, that stayed in the Top Ten for most of the summer, all Kingston’s “Tomorrow” could manage was a #37 debut and 13,000 scanned. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt.

On the singles side of things, there are two noteworthy items, at least from a positive standpoint. Lady GaGa holds at #7 for a second week with “Paparazzi”. It’s the fourth top ten single from her album “The Fame”, making her the first debut artist to reach that designation since Christina Aguilera back in 2000. Meanwhile, Carrie Underwood blasts up the chart with “Cowboy Casanova”. The first single from the country starlet’s third album jumps from #96 to #11, boosted by it’s availability on iTunes.

Other artists who had songs debut on iTunes last week? Not so lucky. “Make Me”, the first single from Janet Jackson’s upcoming Number Ones album, enters the digital singles chart at a lowly #181. Only six spots above it, at #175, is the first new music in seven years from Creed, one of the biggest selling rock bands of the past decade. Turns out audiences weren’t so overcome by their single “Overcome”. For cpmparison’s sake? The song at #174 is Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”, which is 27 years old.

Next week, it appears to be a horse race between Paramore and Mariah Carey to see who has the week’s top-selling album. Stay tuned to SonicClash to see how it all turns out.

This Week’s Top Albums on Billboard’s Comprehensive Albums Chart:

1) “Backspacer” Pearl Jam

2) “The Blueprint 2″ Jay-Z

3) “Life Starts Now” Three Days Grace

4) “I Look to You” Whitney Houston

5) “The Time of Our Lives EP” Miley Cyrus

6) “Daisy” Brand New

7) “War is the Answer” Five Finger Death Punch

“Number Ones” Michael Jackson

9) “Your Songs” Harry Connick Jr.

10) “So Far Gone EP” Drake

11) “The Resistance” Muse

12) “Church Music” David Crowder Band

13) “Draw the Line” David Gray

14) “Fearless” Taylor Swift

15) “Only by the Night” Kings of Leon

16) “Monsters of Folk” Monsters of Folk

17) “Abbey Road” The Beatles

18) “The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies)” The Black Eyed Peas

19) “Man on the Moon: The End of the Day” Kid Cudi

20) “Foundation” Zac Brown Band

Chart Chat 9/24/09: The MTV Bump

September 24, 2009

Three big pieces of news on the Billboard Album charts this week…

First, there were debuts aplenty thanks to a majorly packed new release schedule. Top honors went to Brit prog-rockers Muse, who entered at #3 on the strength of 128,000 copies sold. It’s their best first week and highest debut ever. Right behind is Kanye West protege Kid Cudi, who clears a handsome 104K with his debut. Hip-hop phenom Drake enters at #6 with his first commercially released EP, and rapper Lil’ Boosie (yeah, I don’t know who he is either) starts off at #7. The top 10′s other debut comes from metal veterans Megadeth. Dave Mustaine and company enter the charts at #9 with 45K sold.

There are a couple of long-awaited returns to the chart. Kiss’s Ace Frehley, who hasn’t released a solo album in something like two decades, arrives at #27 with “Anomaly”, proving that the KISS Army is very much still in effect. Other returning vets include Uncle Kracker, who’s been gone for the better part of a half-decade (#38) and Living Colour earning their first chart ink since 1993 at #161.

Speaking of effects…how about the Oprah effect? Thanks to Whitney Houston’s season-opening two day interview with the TV queen, “I Look to You” holds at #2 for a second week, increasing 77% in scans to sell 156K for the week. This vaults Whitney’s album over the 500K mark in a scant three weeks. I hope she sent Oprah flowers or something.

And then there’s the MTV Awards effect, which benefited just about every artist who presented and performed. Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3″ took a smaller than usual second-week hit, dropping 37% to land at 298K for the week and a second frame at #1. Jay’s album is only a couple of weeks away from outdistancing the sales of his last record, “American Gangster”, which rang up just over 1.1 million in sales. Additionally, the song that closed the show, “Empire State of Mind”, vaults to the top of the downloaded tracks chart and jumps from 50-5 on the Top 100 singles chart, giving Jay two singles in the Top 5. Additionally, “Run This Town”, his current track with Kanye and Rihanna, jumps to #2, becoming the highest charting single ever for Jay-Z as a lead artist. As a featured artist, he’s had 3 #1s-Mariah Carey’s “Heartbreaker”, Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella”

Other MTV performers who made noise this week include Lady Gaga (#12/+76%), Pink (#28/ +95%) and Green Day (#54/ +17%).

Now for the question you’ve all been itching to ask: how did the Taylor Swift/Kanye West/Beyonce fiasco affect sales? Well, here goes:

Swift’s “You Belong with Me” becomes the first country song to rise to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 airplay chart in the chart’s 18 year history. The track picks up 60% in downloads to land at #9 on this week’s Top Digital Songs chart and also climbs two spots to #4 on the Hot 100 singles chart (which combines digital and physical sales with airplay). Her nearly quadruple-platinum album “Fearless” increases 37% and lands at #8 on this week’s Billboard 200 Album chart. It’s the week’s biggest-selling country album.

Beyonce’s “I Am…Sasha Fierce” increases 40% in scans to land at #40 on the album chart. “Fierce” has sold almost 2.5 million copies in a year on the charts. Her award-winning “Single Ladies” track jumps from 106-43 on this week’s Top Digital Songs chart, increasing 159% from last week’s total. In addition, the current single from “Fierce”, “Sweet Dreams”, has just become the sixth Top 40 hit from that album, putting her within shouting distance of tying Janet Jackson (who did it twice) and Rihanna for the record in this category.

Meanwhile, Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak” drops 7% in scans this week. It’s hard to tell if his spaz out hurt sales, as “808s” had experienced a 6% slide the previous week and a 7% slide the week before that. “808s” has already scanned 1.6 million copies. However, despite declining sales, don’t cry for Mr. West. Aside from being the main producer of the week’s #1 album and the mentor of the artist at #4, Kanye has two songs in this week’s Top 10. The aforementioned “Run This Town” shoots up two spots to land at #2, and he debuts on the chart at #8, accompanying Drake, Lil Wayne and Eminem on “Forever”. As they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right.

Expect Jay to have another strong week next week, although he will be outshone by the new Pearl Jam album, which has an excellent chance at debuting on top.

Here are this week’s top 20 Albums (I’m using Billboard’s Comprehensive Albums chart, which includes older titles, which is why there’s a discrepancy between some of the chart positions here and some of the positions I mentioned earlier):

1) Jay-Z “Blueprint 3″

2) Whitney Houston “I Look to You”

3) Muse “Resistance”

4) Kid Cudi “Man on the Moon: The End of the Day”

5) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”

6) Drake “So Far Gone EP”

7) The Beatles “Abbey Road”

Lil Boosie “Superman: The Return of Lil Boosie”

9) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”

10) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

11) Megadeth “Endgame”

12) The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

13) The Black Eyed Peas “The EN.D. (The Energy Never Dies)”

14) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”

15) Lady Gaga “The Fame”

16) The Beatles “The Beatles (The White Album)”

17) The Beatles “Rubber Soul”

18) Zac Brown Band “Foundation”

19) Trey Songz “Ready”

20) Brooks & Dunn “#1s…and Then Some”

Tell Me Why You’re Crying My Son

September 17, 2009

Mary Travers, the Mary who blended her voice with Peter and Paul, has died at 72 according to published reports at CNN.com.

Watching a world pass them by but sticking to the idealism that made them 60s favorites, PP&M were the VH1 band of their day that wanted to break on MTV but not lose their loyal listeners.   Puff (The Magic Dragon) wasn’t about anything but a child’s imaginary playmate they insisted, much like The Beatles insisted that many of their well known drug songs were simple odes about fun places.

Back to back Grammy Awards in 1962-1963 for Best Pop Performance for If I Had A Hammer and Leaving On A Jet Plane established the trio in music’s mainstream.  They were no longer the torch bearers of Seeger’s legacy, but a musical force (much like early Kanye) that could keep a foot on each side of the road and walk straight down the center.

The artists they influenced are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as are the artists that influenced them.   They gave voice to Bobby Zimmerman’s Blowin’ in the Wind.  They did the same thing for John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane in that awkward period the Far Out guy experienced between the Chad Mitchell days and his stint as a Rocky Mountain troubadour.

Peter Paul & Mary covered Dylan especially well.   In The Wind, the band’s third album in 1963, featured three Dylan penned tracks.  They would constantly return to Dylan covers, including I Shall Be Released and Too Much of Nothing.  Tim Hardin was another favorite songwriter to cover, as was influence Pete Seeger.

Perhaps no better measure of the respect PP&M generated is found in the musicians credits on their albums.  Artists like Herbie Hancock grace the credits of the band’s discography.  And if Paul Stookey wanted to write songs and Peter Yarrow wanted to produce them, Mary Travers was the soaring voice cementing the two and firmly establishing the trio in pop music history.

RIP Mary.  Day is done.

*For those who didn’t delve too deep into the discography, the headline is the first line of Day is Done, one of Peter, Paul and Mary’s last hits.

Chart Chat 9/16/09: Jigga and the Fabs

September 16, 2009

Jay-Z makes history on this week’s Billboard 200 Album Chart. “The Blueprint 3″ crashes in at the #1 spot, scanning over 475,000 copies. This is Jay’s 11th chart topping album, giving him more #1 albums than any solo artist in history. More than Elvis. More than Michael Jackson. More than Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand or any artist in history than…

…The Beatles, who make some chart noise of their own this week. Their recently reissued catalog sells a combined 650,000 copies, with 9 titles landing in the Top Twenty. Granted, none of these titles appear on the actual Billboard 200 because of their age, but they take up 9 of the Top 10 spots on Billboard’s catalog chart. “Abbey Road” is the top seller, followed by “Sgt. Pepper”, “The White Album” and “Rubber Soul”.

Elsewhere on the chart, Raekwon and Brooks & Dunn also enter in the Top 10. It looks like Jay will hold at the #1 spot on next week’s album chart, with a battle forming for second place between British band Muse and Whitney Houston, who will see an uptick in sales thanks to her interviews on the season premiere of “Oprah”.

…and here’s another interesting Jay fact…”Blueprint 3″ opens with 50,000 more copies than 2007′s “American Gangster” did. “Gangster” went on to sell over one million copies.

This week’s Top 20 Albums, courtesy of Billboard & Soundscan

1) Jay-Z “Blueprint 3″

2) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”

3) The Beatles “Abbey Road”

4) Whitney Houston “I Look to You”

5) The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

6) Raekwon “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2″

7) The Beatles “The Beatles (White Album)”

The Beatles “Rubber Soul”

9) Brooks & Dunn “#1s…and Then Some”

10) The Beatles “Revolver”

11) Trey Songz “Ready”

12) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”

13) Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.”

14) Boys Like Girls “Love Drunk”

15) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”

16) The Beatles “Help!”

17) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

18) The Beatles “Let it Be”

19) The Beatles “Past Masters 1 & 2″

20) The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour”

Chart Chat 8/26/09: Gone Country

August 26, 2009

Welcome to the dog days of summer in the music industry. Big name releases have slowed to a crawl, and besides, it’s too damn hot to go out and buy CDs anyhow. This week’s chart boasts a country 1-2 punch, as Reba McEntire enters at the top of the chart with “Keep on Loving You”, scanning 96,000 units in its’ first week, more than enough to unseat last week’s chart champ, George Strait. His Twang album has to settle for the runner-up spot with a relatively anemic 61,000 sold. The chart’s most eye-opening debut, however, has to come from Third Eye Blind, a band many considered to be at least a decade past their sell-by date. Their fourth studio effort (and first on an independent label), Ursa Major, blasts onto the chart at #3, scanning 49,000 copies. It’s the highest charting album ever for Stephan Jenkins and his crew.

As has been custom for the past few weeks, the top of the chart isn’t exactly the top of the chart. In the wake of Michael Jackson’s death, his albums have taken up permanent residence in the upper reaches of the charts. However, they are not eligible for the Billboard 200 because of a rule which relegates all albums 18 months or older that are not currently being worked at radio to the Catalog chart. Thusly, “Number Ones” does not appear on the chart, despite the fact that it’s sold enough copies in the past week that it would rank at #2 on the chart-if it were allowed to chart.

Actually, a quick look reveals that “Number Ones” is now THE BIGGEST-SELLING ALBUM OF 2009. With over 1.6 million copies scanned since January (much of that obviously occurring in the past two months), Jackson slides past Taylor Swift to stand alone as the year’s #1 album. Not bad for an album that Billboard won’t even allow to place on it’s chart, huh? How weird will it look if “Number Ones” is able to hold it’s position and ends the year as the 2009′s biggest-selling album despite not appearing on the Billboard 200 at all?

Moving back to the regular chart, I’m sure there are tears being shed at the Sean Paul household. The formerly top-selling reggae superstar debuts at an anemic #12, selling only 28,000 copies of his latest album, “Imperial Blaze”. Coming off of two consecutive Platinum albums, that’s got to hurt.

Colbie Caillat is scheduled to debut at #1 next week with a total that will approach 100K.

Here are this week’s Top 20 comprehensive albums:

1) Reba McEntire “Keep on Loving You”

2) Michael Jackson “Number Ones”

3) George Strait “Twang”

4) Third Eye Blind “Ursa Major”

5) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”

6) The Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)”

7) Neil Diamond “Hot August Night NYC”

Various Artists “Hannah Montana Movie Soundtrack”

9) Michael Jackson “The Essential Michael Jackson”

10) Taylor Swift “Fearless”

11) Daughtry “Leave This Town”

12) Various “Now 31″

13) Maxwell “BLACKsummersnight”

14) Sean Paul “Imperial Blaze”

15) Zac Brown Band “Foundation”

16) Michael Jackson “Thriller”

17) Ledisi “Turn Me Loose”

18) Soundtrack “Hannah Montana 3″

19) Jason Aldean “Wide Open”

20) Lady GaGa “The Fame”

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