Billboard 200: 3/19/11- Adele No. 1: 168,000

Excellent hold for Adele. On another note - this is the third week in a row where we've had a year-to-year increase in album sales.

And March has a pretty solid lineup to keep it up. What have been the yearly declines in album sales since '00?

3-8 - Lupe Fiasco, Avril Lavigne, Glee, Sara Evans
3-15 - Rise Against, Miranda Cosgrove
3-22 - Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, The Strokes
3-29 - Britney Spears, Wiz Khalifa, Panic! At The Disco, Snoop Dogg

Great news for Adele! Glad to see GaGa holding on 4 straight weeks at #1. BTW had an amazing run!

Let's not forget R.E.M. for this week and 3/29 will be Radiohead's wide release. The King of Limbs albums are all being paid, but apparently that never counted toward/wasn't reported to SoundScan.

I hate the new chart alert by billboard.biz. it's so uninteresting :(

Chart Alert used to be much bigger and contained interesting facts in near past.. ;)
1 year ago, for example:

Fourth No. 1 Album For LudacrisMarch 17, 2010

LUDACRIS
Editor: Keith Caulfield; Contributors: Gary Trust, Alex Vitoulis; Editorial Director: Silvio Pietroluongo

Ludacris lands his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as "Battle of the Sexes" debuts atop the list with 137,000 . . . It's the first rap album to reach No. 1 in nearly six months . . . the last was Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" back in early October . . . The top 10 also welcomes new entries from Gorillaz, Jimi Hendrix and Broken Bells . . . Last week's No. 1, Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," slips to No. 3.

FLASH POINTS

• Ludacris scores his fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 as "Battle of the Sexes" debuts atop the tally with 137,000 copies. It's the rapper/actor's follow-up to "Theater of the Mind," which peaked at No. 5 upon its opening week with 213,000. Counting "Battle," he's scored seven top 10 sets, including his previous No. 1s "Release Therapy" (2006), "The Red Light District" (2004) and "Chicken N Beer" (2003).

• As Ludacris notches his fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200, that ties him for the third-most No. 1s among rap acts. His total brings him up to speed with the Beastie Boys, but trails 2Pac, DMX, Eminem and Nas, who each have five No. 1s. The all-time leader among rap acts is Jay-Z, with 11.

• "Battle of the Sexes" is the first rap album to top the Billboard 200 in nearly six months. The last time a hip-hop set crowned the list was when Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" spent its second and final week at No. 1 on the Oct. 3, 2009, chart.

• One last trivia tidbit on "Battle of the Sexes": It's only the second No. 1 album to feature the word "sex" in its title. The first was Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" in 2007.

• As for the second-highest debut on the Billboard 200 this week, the animated band Gorillaz debuts at No. 2 with its third studio effort, "Plastic Beach." It's the act's highest-charting album and it arrives with its best sales week yet—112,000. Gorillaz' previous high rank came when their last studio set, "Demon Days," debuted and peaked at No. 6 with 107,000 in 2005. "Plastic Beach" settles for the runner-up slot on both sides of the Atlantic this week, for over in the United Kingdom, the album starts at No. 2 on the Official Charts Co. album chart behind Boyzone's "Brother."

• Last week's No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," slips to No. 3 with 105,000 (down 17%) in its seventh week on the list.

• The chart's next debut is Jimi Hendrix's "Valleys of Neptune," which starts at No. 4 with 95,000. It's the legendary singer/guitarist's highest-charting album since "The Cry of Love" reached No. 3 in 1971. The new release is a recently discovered collection of previously unreleased studio recordings Hendrix made before he died in 1970. Since his passing, Hendrix has been seemingly ever-present on the Billboard 200, as he's charted 34 posthumous albums, including "Valleys of Neptune."

• Country singer Gary Allan is next in the parade of debuts: His "Get Off on the Pain" arrives at No. 5 with 65,000. It's Allan's fourth straight top 10 album following "Tough All Over" (No. 5 in 2005), "Greatest Hits" (No. 5 in 2007) and "Living Hard" (No. 3 in 2007).

• The final new entry in the top 10 this week comes in at No. 7 from super duo Broken Bells, which sees its self-titled debut bow with 49,000. Broken Bells' members are Brian Burton (aka producer Danger Mouse) and the Shins' singer James Mercer. The latter band most recently charted with "Wincing the Night Away," which debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2007 with 118,000 in its first week.

• As for the holdovers in the top 10 this week, Sade's "Soldier of Love" is down four rungs to No. 6 with 52,000 (down 34%), Lady Gaga's "The Fame" is down one to No. 8 with 48,000 (down 3%), the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." also drops one spot to No. 9 with 43,000 (down 8%), and Blake Shelton's "Hillbilly Bone" falls seven slots to No. 10 in its second week with 29,000 (down 60%).

• Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending March 14) totaled 6.1 million units, down 3% compared with the sum last week (6.3 million) and down 8% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009 (6.6 million).

• AND NEXT WEEK:

• As for next week's Billboard 200, it's looking like gospel singer/minister Marvin Sapp will earn the highest debut, as industry prognosticators foresee his "Here I Am" album selling as many as 70,000 copies by week's end on Sunday March 21.

• That sales figure may place the album in the top five on next week's chart. His last set, 2007's "Thirsty," peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 but spent a lengthy 81 weeks on the chart. It has sold 710,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Its long run on the charts and healthy sales can be attributed in part to his surprise radio hit "Never Would Have Made It," which spent a staggering 56 weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart between 2008 and 2009.

• We're guessing that with the current No. 1 and No. 2 albums—Ludacris' "Battle of the Sexes" and Gorillaz' "Plastic Beach"—expected to make sizable second-week sales declines after their debuts this week, Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (No. 3 this past week) could make an encore return to No. 1 next week.

• Aside from Sapp, look for other notable new entries next week from Flobots' "Survival Story," the White Stripes' live set "Under Great White Northern Lights" and Drive-By Truckers' "The Big To-Do."

MARKET WATCH

• Album units, current chart week: 6.1 million units
• DOWN 3% from last week's charts: 6.3 million units
• DOWN 8% from the comparable week in 2009: 6.6 million units
• This week: The top three albums on the Billboard 200 each sell more than 100,000 copies.
• This week last year on the Billboard 200: Kelly Clarkson netted her second No. 1 album as "All I Ever Wanted" premiered atop the chart with 255,000. The-Dream opened at No. 2 with "Love Vs. Money" (151,000) while the previous week's No. 1 album—U2's "No Line on the Horizon"—fell to No. 3 with 132,000 (down 73%).

A LOOK AHEAD

• Among the albums released this week, due on next week's charts: the White Stripes' "Under Great White Northern Lights," Marvin Sapp's "Here I Am," Drive-By Truckers' "The Big To-Do," Dropkick Murphys' "Live on Lansdowne, Boston MA," Flobots' "Survival Story," Fates Warning's "Parallels" and Julieta Venegas' "Otra Cosa."

• Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2009 when: Kelly Clarkson's "All I Ever Wanted" remained at No. 1 for a second week, selling 90,000 copies (down 65%) while the chart's highest debut came from Gorilla Zoe's "Don't Feed the Animals" at No. 8 with 31,000.

Hooray for Adele. She definitely deserves the title of best-selling album of the year so far. 500k in two weeks is very impressive.

new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/74339/week-ending-march-6-2011-albums-across-the-pond/

Week Ending March 6, 2011: Albums: Across The Pond
Posted Wed Mar 9, 2011 by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

Acts from England have the top three albums on this week's Billboard 200. Adele holds at #1 for the second week with her second album, 21; Marsha Ambrosius, formerly of the duo Floetry, opens at #2 with her solo debut album Late Nights & Early Mornings; Mumford & Sons holds at #3 with its smash debut album Sigh No More.

21 sold 168,000 copies this week, bringing its two-week total to 521,000. That makes it the best-selling album so far this year, eclipsing Sigh No More (which has sold 447K copies in 2011). Adele's 2008 debut album, 19, took 38 weeks to top the 500K mark.

Adele's album sold 79,000 digital copies this week, giving it a two-week digital total of 296,000. That also pushes it ahead of Mumford & Sons' album as the top digital seller for the year-to-date. Sigh No More has sold 259K digital copies so far this year.

Adele's album holds at #1 in the U.K. for the sixth straight week. It's the first album to log multiple weeks at #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. since Eminem's Recovery, which headed the chart for seven weeks in both countries. It's the first album by a female artist to log multiple weeks at #1 in both countries since Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream, which headed the chart for six weeks in the U.S. and four in the U.K.

Adele's album has already sold more than 1 million copies in the U.K. The Official Charts Company, which monitors U.K. sales, reports that no other album has ever reached 1 million sales in domestic sales so quickly in the first three months of the year.

Marsha Ambrosius co-wrote Michael Jackson's "Butterflies," which reached #13 (HGuy Note: #14) on the Hot 100 in January 2002. It was Jackson's last top 40 hit during his lifetime. Floetry recorded the song for its 2002 album Floetic. Ambrosius re-recorded it for her new album. Ambrosius' album has spawned two top 30 hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart: "Hope She Cheats On You (With A Basketball Player)" (which has to be the year's best song title) and the current "Far Away."

Dropkick Murphys debuts at #6 with its seventh studio album, Going Out In Style. The Irish American "Celtic punk" band was formed in Quincy, Mass. The album was released on the eve of St. Patrick's Day, when the band has a tradition of playing in and around Boston. Director Martin Scorsese put one of the band's songs ("I'm Shipping Up To Boston") in his Oscar-winning The Departed. The new album includes a guest vocal by Bruce Springsteen on the 1913 hit song "Peg o' My Heart" (which was a #1 hit in 1947, two years before Springsteen was born).

Aaron Lewis' Town Line bows at #7. It's the first solo release by the front man for the alternative rock band Staind. The title refers to Nashville, as you can see on the album cover below. Town Line is the week's #1 country album. It bumps off Lady Antebellum's Need You Now, which held the top spot for a total of 31 weeks. "Country Boy," the lead single from Lewis' EP, features country legends George Jones and Charlie Daniels.

Lewis isn't the first artist with an unconventional background to land a #1 album on the Top Country Albums chart. In the past five years, seven other artists who came from other genres have also topped the country chart. Jewel, Jessica Simpson and Miley Cyrus (as Hannah Montana) all came from the world of pop. Julianne Hough rose to prominence on the TV show Dancing With The Stars. Jimmy Buffett and Eagles made their names in '70s pop/rock, which has had great influence on modern-day country. Darius Rucker (from Hootie & the Blowfish) came from '90s pop/rock.

P!nk's Greatest Hits...So Far!!! returns to the top 10 for a third week. The album also tops the 500K sales mark this week. It's the best-selling greatest hits album since Rascal Flatts' Greatest Hits Volume 1, which has sold 1,017,000 copies since its release in October 2008.

Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" enters Hot Digital Songs in the top 10. The song sold 117K in just three full days of sales. Will it enter the Hot 100 in the top 10? You'll have to wait until later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.

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

1. Adele, 21, 168,000. The album holds at #1 for the second straight week. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Rolling In The Deep," which dips from #7 to #9.

2. Marsha Ambrosius, Late Nights & Early Mornings, 96,000. This new entry is Ambrosius' solo debut album. Flo'Ology, her second studio album with Floetry, hit #7 in 2005.

3. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More, 54,000. The album holds at #3 in its 50th week. This is its ninth week in the top 10; its fourth straight week in the top three. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "The Cave" jumps from #43 to #42. "Little Lion Man" jumps from #57 to #53.

4. Justin Bieber, Never Say Never-The Remixes, 53,000. The former #1 album drops from #2 to #4 in its third week. It has been in the top five the entire time. Three songs from the EP are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Never Say Never" (featuring Jaden Smith), which drops from #11 to #17.

5. Various Artists, Now 37, 44,000. The former #1 album dips from #4 to #5 in its fourth week. It has been in the top five the entire time. The album has sold 348K copies.

6. Dropkick Murphys' Going Out In Style, 43,000. This new entry is the band's first top 10 album. Its previous highest-charting was The Meanest Of Times (#20 in 2007). The title song enters Hot Digital Songs at #198.

7. Aaron Lewis, Town Line, 32,000. This new entry is Lewis' first solo release. He has had four top 10 albums with Staind. "Country Boy," which features country legends George Jones and Charlie Daniels, jumps from #102 to #83 on Hot Digital Songs.

8. Justin Bieber, My World 2.0, 33,000. The former #1 album drops from #5 to #7 in its 50th week. This is its 31st week in the top 10. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Baby" (featuring Ludacris), which drops from #56 to #65.

9. Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, 32,000. The album drops from #6 to #9 in its 22nd week. This is its 11th week in the top 10. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Grenade," which drops from #9 to #11.

10. P!nk, Greatest Hits...So Far!!!, 31,000. The album rebounds from #12 to #10 in its 16th week. This is its third week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "F**kin' Perfect" holds at #8. "Raise Your Glass" jumps from #42 to #41.

Four million-selling albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Eminem's Recovery drops from #7 to #13. Rihanna's Loud drops from #8 to #11. Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday drops from #9 to #12. Lady Antebellum's Need You Now drops from #10 to #19. These four albums have sold a combined total of 9,261,000 copies as of this week.

Lucinda Williams' Blessed bows at #15. It's Williams' fourth studio album in a row to make the top 20. Williams has won three Grammys. Remarkably, all three have been in different musical fields. She won in the country field for writing Mary Chapin Carpenter's hit "Passionate Kisses" (Best Country Song of 1993), in the folk field for her album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Best Contemporary Folk Album of 1998) and in the rock field for the track "Get Right With God" (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance of 2001). Williams' broad-based appeal is a key reason for her success.

The Burlesque soundtrack vaults from #140 to #18 in its 15th week in the wake of the release of the DVD. This equals its entry position in November. The album is the week's #1 soundtrack for the first time. It was the #1 soundtrack to a theatrical movie for two weeks late last year, but it ranked behind a TV soundtrack (the Glee Christmas album) both weeks. The album has sold 325K. I'm rooting for it because I like Cher and because the key song was passed over for an Oscar nomination, which seemed like a slap. (Especially since there were just four Best Song contenders).

Adele's previous album, 19, drops from #16 to #28. It's the top catalog album for the third straight week.

Forever The Sickest Kids debut at #33. Sick Puppies debut at #94. Every kid needs a puppy, but what's with the "sick" thing?

Harry Connick Jr.'s In Concert On Broadway debuts at #76. The DVD of the same name enters Top Music Videos at #1. It sold 4K copies this week. Carole King and James Taylor's Troubadours: The Rise Of The Singer-Songwriter enters Top Music Videos at #3, with sales of 3K. The team's Live At The Troubadour album has sold 575K copies. The two DVDs were boosted by back-to-back PBS specials, which premiered on Wednesday.

Avril Lavigne's Goodbye Lullaby will enter The Billboard 200 next week, but it's already #1 in Japan. It's the first non-domestic album to top the Japanese chart since Bon Jovi's The Circle in November 2009. Lavigne's last studio album, The Best Damn Thing, spent two weeks at #1 in Japan in April 2007. Lavigne is one of just three international acts to top the Japanese album chart with multiple albums since 2004. Bon Jovi leads the pack with three #1 albums in that time. Michael Jackson and Lavigne follow with two.

The Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. tops the 3 million mark this week. It's the band's third album in a row to hit this sales plateau. Elephunk has sold 3,204,000 copies since its release in June 2003. Monkey Business has sold 4,272,000 since its release in June 2005. The E.N.D. took 91 weeks to sell 3 million, which is slower than Monkey Business (just 30 weeks), but faster than Elephunk (three years). The group's current album, The Beginning, is unlikely to keep the string of 3 million sellers alive. It has sold 553,000 copies since its release in November.

The animated Rango was #1 at the box-office. Hans Zimmer composed the score. The soundtrack sold fewer than 1,000 copies this week, too few to make The Billboard 200.

Coming Attractions: Glee, The Music: Season Two: Volume 5 is expected to be next week's top new debut. Also due: Lupe Fiasco's Lasers, Avril Lavigne's Goodbye Lullaby, R.E.M.'s Collapse Into Now, Raekwon's Shoolin Vs. Wu-Tang, Sara Evans' Stronger and Billy Joel's DVD release Live At Shea Stadium.

slimnickshady, sit down before you read this!

From the RIAA wesbite:

Artist
EMINEM
Title
THE EMINEM SHOW
Certification Date
03/07/2011
Label
INTERSCOPE
Award Description
9.00x MULTI PLATINUM
Format
ALBUM
Category
SOLO
Type
ST

Artist
EMINEM
Title
THE EMINEM SHOW
Certification Date
03/07/2011
Label
INTERSCOPE
Award Description
10.00x MULTI PLATINUM Format
ALBUM
Category
SOLO
Type
ST

More may be coming? The RIAA might not be done updating its website?

Recovery will be 4xp soon.

Little by little...

All certifications are automatically awarded below the latest certification. For example if something is previously un-certified and is certified 2xp it is simultaneously awarded Gold and Platinum as well as 2xp

So, Eminem could potentially join the 40x Platinum club if all of his albums are brought to code soon.