Billboard 200: 6/16/12: John Mayer #1: 65k

Congratulation to Regina Spektor on her second consecutive #3 album! :)

Week Ending June 3, 2012. Albums: One Direction’s Vid Record
By Paul Grein | Chart Watch – 6 minutes ago


This week, for the first time, the week's #1 music video outsold the week's #1 album. One Direction's Up All Night: The Live Tour DVD sold 76,000 copies in its first week, which is more than the week's #1 album, John Mayer's Born And Raised (65K).

Up All Night: The Live Tour sold more copies this week than any other DVD has in any one week so far this year. The last DVD to sell this many copies in one week was Adele's Live At The Royal Albert Hall, which topped 80K in each of its first four weeks of release in December.

After just one week's sales, Up All Night: The Live Tour is already the #3 music video for the year-to-date. It trails Adele's DVD (426K so far this year) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall (77K).

One Direction is also represented in the top 10 on the year-to-date lists of both albums and songs. The boy band is one of only two acts (the other of course being Adele) to be listed in the top 10 for the year-to-date on all three of these charts. (Nicki Minaj and Gotye are both listed in the top 10 for both albums and songs, but not music videos.)

One Direction's Up All Night album has sold 739K copies, which puts it at #4 for the year-to-date. The group's buoyant single "What Makes You Beautiful" has sold 2,460,000 copies, which puts it at #7 for the year-to-date.

Shameless Plug: Later today, I'll post a Chart Watch Extra in which I look at all the boy bands who have landed #1 videos since this chart was introduced in 1985. New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC are the reigning boy bands, with four #1 videos each. If you're a teenage girl, or have been at any point in the last 27 years, this one's for you. Check it out later today.

John Mayer's Born And Raised holds at #1 on The Billboard 200 for the second straight week. This is Mayer's first album to spend a second week on top. Heavier Things spent one week at #1 in September 2003. Battle Studies had one week on top in November 2009. But Born And Raised sold just 65K copies, the thinnest total for a #1 album since Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday moved up to #1 with sales of 45K in February 2011. Born And Raised sold 38K digital copies this week, which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums for the second straight week.

Nobody sets out to hit #2, much less set a record for most weeks at #2, but that's what Adele's 21 does this week. The album logs its 24th week at #2. This matches Bruce Springsteen's 1984 album Born In The U.S.A. for the most weeks at #2 since 1963, when Billboard combined its separate mono and stereo surveys into one comprehensive chart.

These are, of course, two of the most celebrated albums of the modern pop era. But both albums, surprisingly, have spent more weeks at #2 than they have at #1. Springsteen's album spent just seven weeks at #1. Adele's album has spent 23 weeks at #1. (Adele's still active album will probably add to its tallies of weeks at #1 and #2. But for now at least, it has spent more time at #2 than it has at #1.)

Shameless Plug II: I'll also post a Chart Watch Extra later today in which I look at all albums that have logged 12 or more weeks at #2. The list stretches from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass' Whipped Cream & Other Delights to Britney Spears' Oops!....I Did It Again and Adele's 21. It includes one album that never reached #1: Stray Cats' 1982 smash Built For Speed, which logged 15 frustrating weeks at #2. Check it out later today.

21 has never ranked below #7 in its 67 weeks of release. Only one other album in history has spent its first 67 weeks in the top 10. That's Born In The U.S.A., which spent its first 84 weeks in the top 10. (Two other albums have debuted in the top 10 and stayed there, without once falling out, for an entire year. Celine Dion's 1996 hit Falling Into You spent its first 59 weeks in the top 10. Fleetwood Mac's 1977 hit Rumours spent its first 52 weeks in the winners' circle.)

Will Adele equal or surpass Springsteen's record? I believe she will. Stay tuned.

21 this week becomes the third best-selling album of the past 10 years. The album has sold 9,264,000 copies, a total topped in the past 10 years only by Norah Jones' Come Away With Me (10,465,000 in this period) and Usher's Confessions (9,993,000).

The Fine Print: Eminem's The Eminem Album has sold 10,073,000 copies, but only 8,466,000 of those sales have transpired in the last 10 years. The album's gigantic opening, in which it sold 1,607,000 copies in its first two weeks, slips out of the "last 10 years" window this week. Come Away With Me sold 373,000 additional copies between its release in March 2002 and the start of the "last 10 years" tally.

This week's top 10 has an international flavor. Regina Spektor, who was born in Moscow, debuts at #3 with What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. Sigur Ros, which was formed in Reykavik, Iceland, debuts at #7 with Valtari. Sigur Ros is the second act from Iceland to land a top 10 album. Bjork, who was born in Reykavik, reached #9 in May 2007 with Volta.

What We Saw From The Cheap Seats is Spektor's second album to reach #3. Far reached that spot in June 2009. I like the self-deprecating title of the new album. Alabama had an album with a similar title in 1993. The country group's Cheap Seats reached #76.

Sigur Ros first charted in 2002 with (). The previous high for the eclectic band was #15 for 2008's Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust.

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" logs it third week at #1 on Hot Digital Songs. That's the longest run by an unassisted female solo artist since Adele's "Someone Like You" had four weeks on top in September and October. Will "Call Me Maybe" finally jump to #1 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: John Mayer's Born And Raised holds at #1 for the second straight week. (65K)….Adele's 21 holds at #2 for the fourth straight week in its 67th week on the chart (58K). The former #1 album has been in the top 10 the entire time… Regina Spektor's What We Saw from the Cheap Seats debuts at #3 (42K). It's her second top five album…One Direction's Up All Night rebounds from #5 to #4 in its 12th week on the chart (41K). The former #1 album has been in the top 10 the entire time… Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros' Here debuts at #5 (35K). This is the group's first top 10 album.

The Second Five: Carrie Underwood's Blown Away drops from #3 to #6 in its fifth week on the chart (32K). The album has been in the top 10 the entire time. The album holds at #1 on Top Country Albums for the fifth week…Sigur Ros' Valtari debuts at #7 (26K). It's the act's first top 10 album…Now 42 rebounds from #9 to #8 in its fifth week on the chart (26K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time… Luke Bryan's Tailgates & Tanlines jumps from #15 to #9 in its 43rd week on the chart (24K). This is its sixth week in the top 10… Lionel Richie's Tuskegee drops from #6 to #10 in its 10th week on the chart (22K). The former #1 album has been in the top 10 the entire time.

Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Apocalyptic Love by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators drops from #4 to #19… MercyMe's The Hurt & The Healer drops from #7 to #27… Sara Bareilles' EP Once Upon Another Time plummets from #8 to #66…Norah Jones' …Little Broken Hearts drops from #10 to #12.

For Today's Immortal debuts at #15. For Today is a Christian "metalcore" band…Atlanta rap trio Travis Porter debuts at #16 with its debut album, From Day 1…Two albums with the same title debut in this week's top 30. Rebecca Ferguson's Heaven debuts at #23…The Walkmen's Heaven debuts at #30. Ferguson was the runner-up on the U.K. version of The X Factor.

Adele's 2008 album 19 rebounds from #44 to #26 in its 137th week on the chart. It's #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the 40th week out of the past 68. The resurgence follows NBC's hour-long Adele special on Sunday night, in the final hours of the tracking week. Expect all Adele titles (albums, songs and video) to benefit next week.

Johnny Cash returns to the chart with the Starbucks-exclusive Opus Collection, which debuts at #28. The country legend first charted in 1958 with The Fabulous Johnny Cash.

Mary Mary's Go Get It rebounds from #54 to #36 in its fourth week. The album contains "music featured in and inspired by" the duo's eponymous TV show on the WE cable network. Go Get It is #1 on this week's Top Soundtracks chart.

Musique Pop De Paris debuts at #32…Melody Gardot's Absence debuts at #33…Scissor Sisters' Magic Hour debuts at #35.

The Avengers Assemble jumps from #76 to #71 in its fifth week. It's the highest-charting soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie for the third time in the past five weeks.

Juanes' MTV Unplugged debuts at #52. Only one MTV Unplugged album by a Latin artist has climbed higher. That's Ricky Martin's album, which hit #38 in November 2006. Other Latin artists who have charted with MTV Unplugged albums include Mana (#83 in July 1999), Shakira (#124 in March 2000), Los Tigres Del Norte (#134 in June 2011) and Julieta Venegas (#169 in July 2008).

Snow White and the Huntsman was #1 at the box-office over the weekend.

Coming Attractions: The Beach Boys' That's Why God Made The Radio is expected to be among next week's top new entries. Also due: Alan Jackson's Thirty Miles West, Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana, Curren$y's The Stoned Immaculate, Big K.R.I.T's Live From The Underground, Joe Walsh's Analog Man, Rock Of Ages soundtrack, Brandi Carlile's Bear Creek, The Temper Trap's The Temper Trap, the Hives' Lex Hives and Victorious Cast's Victorious 2.0 TV soundtrack,

I wonder why Scissor Sisters saw such a decline from their last two albums (which were both top 20)?

Yeah I thought with Kris, at least with a low opening he would see a softer second week drop... apparently not :(

His days at a major record label are probably numbered.

^I don't think he ever mobilized one after Idol... even Taylor Hicks managed to get a Hot 100 #1 and a Platinum album. Lee DeWyze will do even worse with his second album assuming he gets one.

I'm not sure why Kris is having such trouble, there are plenty of great pop melodies, catchy tunes on the latest album that are at least very marketable towards a Hot AC/AC audience. "Live Like We're Dying" showed he could connect with a pop audience too even if radio begrudgingly played it at first.

That's true. Well with Scotty doing well and P2 off to a promising start, the AI machine is still going. I just am waiting for another female to win. After all, the two most successful alumni are women.

Let's not forget Kris' TVOL is currently only at #29 on HAC with virtually no radio support until the week of his album release. The song was simply released and forgotten until his AI performance over a month later, then once again forgotten until May 21st.

Since the AI performance, he's only performed again on Live With Kelly and done some local TV interviews for Fox affiliates. There was no hype built up for his album, the single wasn't released to Pop, and he's been gone from the music scene since The Truth fizzled back in June 2010.

There's only so much you can achieve with minimal label support, little mainstream exposure and one hit single over two years ago. You don't establish a dedicated fanbase overnight (regardless of American Idol) and constant exposure is necessary.

^ Why don't you go back to that thread and reread it yourself. :) Meanwhile Adam continues free falling as well.

Two reasons why Kris couldn't build a solid fanbase even with a hit like LLWD. First, the rest of kris' debut album sounds nothing like LLWD. second, LLWD is not a singer's song which showcase the artist's unique style and/or voice, it's just another catchy pop tune any semi-competent singer can deliver. So basically this time around he's like a brand new artist, and even though I think his new album is much better than his debut, I can't honestly say it's strong enough to launch a new artist, its style is just too middle-of-the-road. and all sound been done before.

I think both Adam and kris are in danger unfortunately, kris much more so, even though both albums are miles better than their debut.

New RIAA certifications:

Gotye Gold
Toby Keith Gold

Then what's the point of posting here anymore?

Well, yes. The charts that arab at ukmix has been posting the last several months is a good example or basically anything that has unrounded Soundscan data leaked to another music forum or posted on a blog.

Of course, just expanding on what you were saying too

Can't we make Pulse private where you have to log in to view the forum?