music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart-watch/week-ending-june-2-2013-albums-return-john-151853787.html#more-5140Week Ending June 2, 2013. Albums: The Return Of John Fogerty
By Paul Grein | Chart Watch
John Fogerty’s Wrote A Song For Everyone enters The Billboard 200 at #3, just behind Daft Punk’s returning champ Random Access Memories and Alice In Chains’ new The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. Fogerty’s album features the rock legend teaming with such artists as Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Brad Paisley and Zac Brown Band on a set of his best-known songs. With this week’s debut, Fogerty has a more than 34-year span of top 10 albums. He first hit the top 10 in April 1969 with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bayou Country.
True to the title, Wrote A Song For Everyone includes a broad range of artists—rock, country and even R&B (Jennifer Hudson takes the lead on “Proud Mary,” which was famously covered by Ike & Tina Turner.) The album isn’t listed on Top Country Albums, even though it includes duets with five country superstars.
Most albums that feature a star collaborating with various guest artists have used the title Duets, but there have been a few exceptions, notably Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company. Fogerty titled the album after a song that first appeared on CCR’s second album, Green River.
This is Fogerty’s second top 10 album as a solo artist. Centerfield hit #1 in March 1985. Fogerty also amassed five top 10 albums with CCR.
Creedence’s biggest hit is “Proud Mary,” which logged three weeks at #2 in March 1969. (For two of those weeks, it was stuck behind Tommy Roe’s “Dizzy,” a song that doesn’t have a fraction of the stature of “Proud Mary.”) Fogerty’s biggest solo hit is “The Old Man Down The Road,” which went top 10 in March 1985. But “Centerfield” (which stalled at #44 on the Hot 100), has proved far more popular in the long run. The song, a perennial ballpark anthem, has sold 734K digital copies, compared to 100K for “The Old Man Down The Road.”
Creedence’s Chronicle (20 Greatest Hits), released in 1976, is one of the best-selling greatest hits albums in history. It has sold 6,357,000 copies since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard. It’s the 11th best-selling greatest hits album or compilation since 1991. (Keep in mind that that tally omits the album’s first 15 years of sales.)
CCR never won a Grammy (the Grammys didn’t have categories dedicated to rock until 1979), but Fogerty won Best Rock Album for 1997’s Blue Moon Swamp. Will this album bring him a second Grammy? Stay tuned.
Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories holds at #1 for the second week. It’s just the third album to log two or more weeks at #1 so far in 2013. It follows Mumford & Sons’ Babel and Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience. It’s the first dance/electronic album to log two or more weeks on top since Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which had two weeks on top in the spring of 2011. Daft Punk’s album sold 54K digital copies this week (out of 93K total), to put it at #1 on Top Digital Albums for the second week. It’s also #1 for the second week on the Official U.K. Chart.
Pop Quiz: You don’t need me to tell you that Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience is the best-selling album that was released in 2013. But what’s second? Bear in mind I’m talking only about albums that were released in 2013, not holdovers from last year. Answer below.
Alice in Chains’ The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here debuts at #2. It’s the band’s highest-charting album since Alice In Chains reached #1 in November 1995. This is the band’s sixth top 10 album. The band first hit the top 10 in October 1992 with Dirt, which debuted and peaked at #6. This week’s sales brings the band’s total album sales past the 15 million mark.
Little Mix’s DNA debuts at #4. The girl group was the winner of Season 8 of the U.K. version of The X Factor. They’re the first winners of that competition to land a top 10 album in the U.S. since Season 3 winner Leona Lewis, whose Spirit hit #1 in April 2008. Little Mix is the only group or duo to win the competition. DNA reached #3 on The Official U.K. Chart. The album includes the Hot 100 hit “Wings,” which reached #1 on the Official U.K. chart in September.
Blake Shelton’s Based On A True Story… rebounds from #16 to #5, boosted by an iTunes sale on albums connected to The Voice. It logs its fifth week at #1 on Top Country Albums. That’s the longest run for an album by a male solo artist since Scotty McCreery’s Clear As Day spent six weeks on top in 2011.
Quiz Answer: Shelton’s album is second to Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience as the 2013 release that has sold the most copies. 20/20 has sold 1,924,000 copies. Shelton’s album has sold 588K. Here’s the rest of the top five (again, we’re talking only about albums that were released in 2013): Michael Buble’s To Be Loved (470K), Lil Wayne’s I Am Not A Human Being II (465K) and Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (432K).
Music From Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby drops from #5 to #7. It’s #1 on Top Soundtracks for the fourth week. It’s halfway to matching the feat of Luhrmann’s 2001 soundtrack to Moulin Rouge, which was the highest-ranking soundtrack on The Billboard 200 for eight weeks.
Imagine Dragons’ Night Visions rebounds from #13 to #8 in its 39th week. The group’s iTunes Sessions EP debuts at #56.
Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires Of The City, which drops from #7 to #10, has spent its first three weeks in the top 10. This surpasses the band’s previous album, Contra, which spent its first two weeks in the top 10.
“Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams jumps from #3 to #1 on Hot Digital Songs (229K). It dethrones “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton, which spent five weeks on top. “We Own It” by 2 Chainz & Wiz Khalifa vaults from #19 to #2. How high will these songs climb 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: Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories holds at #1 for the second week (93K). Alice in Chains’ The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here debuts at #2 (61K). This is the band’s sixth top 10 album…John Fogerty’s Wrote A Song For Everyone debuts at #3 (51K). It’s his seventh top 10 album (counting Creedence Clearwater Revival)…Little Mix’s DNA debuts at #4 (50K). It’s the group’s debut album… Blake Shelton’s Based On A True Story… rebounds from #16 to #5 in its 10th week (42K). This is its ninth week in the top 10.
The Second Five: Darius Rucker’s True Believers drops from #2 to #6 in its second week (41K).…Music From Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby drops from #5 to #7 in its fourth week (36K). It has ranked in the top 10 the entire time… Imagine Dragons’ Night Visions rebounds from #13 to #8 in its 39th week (33K). This is its ninth week in the top 10…Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience holds at #9 for the second week in its 11th week (31K). It has ranked in the top 10 the entire time…Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires Of The City drops from #7 to #10 in its third week (29K). It has ranked in the top 10 the entire time.
Five albums drop out of the top 10 this week. The National’s Trouble Will Find Me drops from #3 to #20. French Montana’s Excuse My French drops from #4 to #21. Thirty Seconds To Mars’ Love Lust Faith + Dreams drops from #6 to #35. George Strait’s Love Is Everything drops from #8 to #12. Lady Antebellum’s Golden drops from #10 to #14.
The-Dream’s fifth studio album, IV Play, debuts at a disappointing #16. (He has had two top five albums.)
Paul McCartney’s Wings Over America re-enters the chart at #22 with sales of 17K. The triple-disk live album (then credited to Wings) reached #1 in January 1977. It spawned a top 10 single, a live version of “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Wings Over America re-enters Top Catalog Albums at #1, displacing Daft Punk’s Discovery. It’s McCartney’s third reissue to reach #1 on that chart. Band On The Run topped the catalog chart in March 1999 (also with sales of 17K). Ram topped the chart last May (also with sales of 17K).
Kid Ink’s Almost Home EP debuts at #27. His debut album, Up & Away, reached #20 last June.
Adele’s 21 holds at #40 for the second week in its 119th week on the chart. Billboard’s Keith Caulfield notes that it’s in fourth place for the longest run in the top 40 in the Nielsen SoundScan era. It trails Shania Twain’s Come On Over (151 weeks), Taylor Swift’s Taylor Swift (126 weeks) and Nickelback’s All The Right Reasons (122 weeks). The top 40 leaders since 1955 are the My Fair Lady original cast album (311 weeks in the top 40), the Oklahoma! soundtrack (262 weeks), Johnny Mathis’ Johnny’s Greatest Hits (236 weeks) and The King And I soundtrack (230 weeks). Both of these soundtracks are from film versions of Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals.
The Kinky Boots original cast album debuts at #51. It’s the highest-charting cast album since The Book Of Mormon spent two weeks in the top 10 two years ago (peaking at #3). Cyndi Lauper wrote the music and lyrics for the show. She’s vying to become the first female to, all by herself, win a Tony for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre. Three female lyricists (Betty Comden, Lynn Ahrens and Lisa Lambert) have won in the category, but they teamed with male composers on their winning scores. We’ll find out if Lauper achieves the feat on Sunday.
The White House Sessions, Live 1962 by Tony Bennett & Dave Brubeck debuts at #74. The program was recorded on Aug. 28, 1962, when John F. Kennedy was President. Both artists have received Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Carole King’s 1971 classic Tapestry re-enters the chart at #130, one week after PBS aired the White House concert at which King became the fifth recipient (and first female recipient) of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. This is the album’s 310th week on the chart. This is its highest ranking since April 2012.
Josh Groban’s Closer tops the 6 million in sales this week. The album reached #1 in January 2004. It’s his best-selling album. His other #1 album, 2007’s Noel, is up to 5,589,000.
Only one soundtrack album from a TV sitcom has reached the top 10. All In The Family climbed to #8 in January 1972, when the show was at its peak. The album consisted of audio clips from the show. Jean Stapleton, who was the heart of the show, died last week. She was 90.
Lil Wayne’s 2008 album Tha Carter III tops 500K in digital sales this week. His 2011 album Tha Carter IV has sold 768 digital copies.
The Rolling Stones’ Crossfire Hurricane holds at #1 on Top Music Videos for the second week.
Fast & Furious 6 was #1 at the box-office for the second weekend in a row.
Coming Attractions: Queens of the Stone Age’s …Like Clockwork is likely to debut at #1 next week. Also due: Megadeth’s Super Collider, Capital Cities’ In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery, Barenaked Ladies’ Grinning Streak, Sleeping With Sirens’ Feel, City & Colour’s The Hurry & The Harm and Matthew Morrison’s Where It All Began.
