Billboard 200: 11/20/10: Taylor Swift #1: 320k

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard.com:

For the first time in three years, the top three selling albums in the U.S. are all country efforts. Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second week (320,000; down 69% according to Nielsen SoundScan), Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" starts at No. 2 (193,000) and Sugarland's former No. 1 "The Incredible Machine" slips one rung to No. 3 (60,000; down 32%).

Country albums last monopolized the top three rungs on the chart dated Nov. 10, 2007, when Carrie Underwood's "Carnival Ride" debuted at No. 1 (527,000), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand" started at No. 2 (112,000) and Gary Allan's "Living Hard" bowed at No. 3 (69,000).

Last week, Swift's "Speak Now" made a historic 1,047,000 bow, just the 16th time since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991 where an album sold at least 1 million copies in a week. As history has proven, it was all but a given that "Speak Now" would take a steep drop in sales this week. The set's 69% decline in on par with the sophomore-week dive of our last million-plusser: Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III." It went from 1,006,000 in its premiere to 309,000 in its second stanza.

Back on this week's Billboard 200, "My Kinda Party's" start at No. 2 with 193,000 earns Aldean him his best sales week and a new peak on the list. His last album, 2009's "Wide Open," notched his previous best frame, when it started with 109,000 at No. 4.

Mariah Carey's second holiday album, "Merry Christmas II You," jingles in at No. 4 with 55,000 in its first week. It marks the diva's 16th top 10 set. Among women, only Barbra Streisand (with 30) and Madonna (19) have had more. Carey's first seasonal effort, 1994's "Merry Christmas," peaked at No. 3.

Lil Wayne's "I Am Not a Human Being" slips one spot to No. 5, though with a gain in sales, as it sells 49,000 in its sixth chart week (up 5%). Kings of Leon's "Come Around Sundown" falls three rungs to No. 6 with 40,000 (down 40%) while Eminem's "Recovery" descends two to No. 7 (38,000; up 1%).

Neil Diamond nets his 17th top 10 album, as "Dreams" debuts at No. 8 with 35,000. It's the singer's fourth top 10 release since 2005, when "12 Songs" began his recent hot streak with a No. 4 entry. He's since notched top 10s with "Home Before Dark" (No. 1 in 2008) and "Hot August Night/NYC" (No. 2 in 2009).

Right behind Diamond at No. 9 is Brad Paisley with "Hits Alive," which starts with 31,000. It's the country star's sixth top 10 effort and second best-of collection.

Rounding out the top 10 at No. 10 is "The Union," from Elton John and Leon Russell, falling four slots with 27,000 (down 27%).

On the Digital Songs chart this week, Rihanna's "What's My Name" (featuring Drake), starts at No. 1 with 235,000, marking the diva's ninth No. 1 -- and third this year. It's the second single to chart from Rihanna's upcoming "Loud" album, following "Only Girl (In The World)," which arrived at No. 1 with 249,000 a little over a month ago. Rihanna also topped the list back in July and August as the featured guest on Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie." Last week's No. 1 Digital Song, Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" falls to No. 2 with 220,000 (down 21%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Nov. 7) totaled 5.43 million units, down 6% compared to the sum last week (5.80 million) and down 21% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009 (6.86 million). Year to date album sales stand at 247.36 million, down 13% compared to the same total at this point last year (285.96 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 19.84 million downloads, up 6% compared to last week (18.77 million) and up 8% stacked next to the comparable week of 2009 (18.42 million). Year to date track sales are at 956.86 million, down less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (960.97 million)

[HolidayGuy]

Sales down 21% from a year ago- not music to the ears.

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard.com:

Here is a look at the acts with the most top 10 sets since the chart premiered as a weekly survey March 24, 1956:

36, the Rolling Stones
33, Frank Sinatra
30, the Beatles
30, Barbra Streisand
27, Elvis Presley
19, Bob Dylan
19, Madonna
17, Elton John
17, Paul McCartney/Wings
17, Neil Diamond
16, Johnny Mathis
16, Bruce Springsteen
16, George Strait
16, Mariah Carey
15, Rod Stewart

[Diego]

I suppose they're decent numbers for a November holiday album release, higher than Merry Christmas at least. Let's see what it can do later...

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/charts/chart_alert/e3ia5b5121032e4be888cdd8f069ace6404

Country Albums Rule Top Three On Billboard 200
November 10, 2010

Editor: Keith Caulfield; Editorial Director: Silvio Pietroluongo; Contributor: Alex Vitoulis

On the Billboard 200 , country rules the top three roost for the first time in three years with Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" holding court at No. 1 for a second week, Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" arriving at No. 2 and Sugarland's "The Incredible Machine" falling a rung to No. 3 . . . Aldean also makes news of his own: "Party" marks a new peak on the chart and his best sales week . . . In other news, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond and Brad Paisley all collect their latest top 10 albums while Rihanna's "What's My Name" debuts at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart with 235,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.


FLASH POINTS

• For the first time in three years, the three top-selling albums in the United States are all country efforts. Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second week (320,000; down 69%, according to Nielsen SoundScan), Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" starts at No. 2 (193,000), and Sugarland's former No. 1 "The Incredible Machine" slips one rung to No. 3 (60,000; down 32%).

• Country albums last monopolized the top three rungs on the Nov. 10, 2007, chart, when Carrie Underwood's "Carnival Ride" debuted at No. 1 (527,000), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand" started at No. 2 (112,000), and Gary Allan's "Living Hard" bowed at No. 3 (69,000).

• Last week, Swift's "Speak" made a historic bow with 1,047,000 sold, just the 16th time since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991 where an album sold at least 1 million copies in a week. As history has proven, it was all but a given that "Speak" would take a steep drop in sales this week. The set's 69% decline is on par with the sophomore-week dive of our last million-plus seller: Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III." It went from 1,006,000 in its premiere week to 309,000 in its second stanza.

• Back on this week's Billboard 200, with Aldean's "Party" starting at No. 2 with 193,000, it earns him his best sales week and a new peak on the list. His last album, 2009's "Wide Open," notched his previous best frame when it started with 109,000 at No. 4.

• Mariah Carey's second holiday album, "Merry Christmas II You," jingles in at No. 4 with 55,000 in its first week. It marks the diva's 16th top 10 set. Among women, only Barbra Streisand (with 30) and Madonna (19) have had more. Carey's first seasonal effort, 1994's "Merry Christmas," peaked at No. 3.

• Lil Wayne's "I Am Not a Human Being" slips one spot to No. 5, though with a gain in sales, as it sells 49,000 in its sixth chart week (up 5%). Kings of Leon's "Come Around Sundown" falls three rungs to No. 6 with 40,000 (down 40%) while Eminem's "Recovery" descends two to No. 7 (38,000; up 1%).

• Neil Diamond nets his 17th top 10 album as "Dreams" debuts at No. 8 with 35,000. It's the singer's fourth top 10 release since 2005, when "12 Songs" began his recent hot streak with a No. 4 entry. He's since notched top 10s with "Home Before Dark" (No. 1 in 2008) and "Hot August Night/NYC" (No. 2 in 2009).

• Right behind Diamond at No. 9 is Brad Paisley with "Hits Alive" starting with 31,000. It's the country star's sixth top 10 effort and second best-of collection.

• Rounding out the top 10 at No. 10 is "The Union" from Elton John and Leon Russell, falling four slots with 27,000 (down 27%).

• On the Digital Songs chart this week, Rihanna's "What's My Name" (featuring Drake), starts at No. 1 with 235,000, marking the diva's ninth No. 1 and her and third this year. It's the second single to chart from RiRi's upcoming "Loud" album, following "Only Girl (In the World)," which arrived at No. 1 with 249,000 a little more than a month ago. Rihanna also topped the list back in July and August as the featured guest on Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie." Last week's No. 1 Digital Song, Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," falls to No. 2 with 220,000 (down 21%).

• Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Nov. 7) totaled 5.4 million units, down 6% compared with the sum last week (5.8 million) and down 21% compared with the comparable sales week of 2009 (6.7 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 247.4 million, down 13% compared with the same total at this point last year (286 million).

• Digital track sales this past week totaled 19.9 million downloads, up 6% compared with last week (18.8 million) and up 8% stacked next to the comparable week of 2009 (18.4 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 956.9 million, down less than 1% compared with the same total at this point last year (961 million).



MARKET WATCH

• Album units, current chart week: 5.4 million units
• Down 6% from last week's charts: 5.8 million units
• Down 21% from the comparable week in 2009: 6.9 million units
• This week last year on the Billboard 200: Carrie Underwood's "Play On" opened at No. 1 with 318,000 sold, bumping Michael Jackson's "This Is It" soundtrack down one rung to No. 2 with 196,000 (down 48%). The top five albums each sold more than 100,000, including the debuting "My Christmas" from Andrea Bocelli at No. 3.


A LOOK AHEAD

• Among the albums released this week, due on next week's charts: Susan Boyle's "The Gift," Bon Jovi's "Greatest Hits," the "Now 36" compilation, Kid Cudi's "Man on the Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager," Reba McEntire's "All the Woman I Am," Cee-Lo Green's "The Lady Killer," Elvis Presley's "Viva Elvis," Blake Shelton's "Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton," Dave Matthews Band's "Live in New York City" and Quincy Jones' "Q: Soul Bossa Nostra."

• Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2009 when: Bon Jovi's "The Circle" arrived at No. 1 with 163,000 sold, pushing the previous week's topper, Carrie Underwood's "Play On," to No. 3 with 128,000 (down 60%). The top four albums each sold more than 100,000.

[chopped89]

Eminem FTW!
Also, expected drop for Taylor so please keep the hate/ignorant comments aside(I'm no Taylor fan BTW).

[slicknickshady]

Yes! Recovery up 1%.

[fridayteenage]

Really, it is standard to have high-60% drops. And 320k would be a large amount for a debut. It's certainly larger than the debuts of today's big pop single divas.

[Deleted]

For Taylor's cd to drop from 1.04 million to 320,000...that's huge.

I'm surprised that's not getting more attention. It's not showing "hatred" or "ignorance" by pointing that out.

IMO, the drop shows how inflated Taylor's debut week numbers were due to the extra day of sales and the $ 3.99 Amazon price.

The CMA awards this week may cushion Taylor's 3rd week fall or might give her a sales boost, but that 2nd week drop is huge.

Unfortunately, I think Eminem will have the highest selling cd of the year.

[neverduplicated]

Nov 10, 2010 18:49:12 GMT -5 @musicstfan said:

For Taylor's cd to drop from 1.04 million to 320,000...that's huge.

The typical second week drop for an album is 70%, and Taylor released on a Monday, so no, not that huge of a drop really. Similar drop in Fearless' second week, and we all know how that turned out.

[Push The Button]

It's the same drop as Norah Jones and Lil Wayne.

[Deleted]

1 SWIFT*TAYLOR SPEAK NOW 319,701
2 ALDEAN*JASON MY KINDA PARTY 192,973
3 SUGARLAND INCREDIBLE MACHINE 59,948
4 CAREY*MARIAH MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU 55,447
5 LIL WAYNE I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING 44,850
6 KINGS OF LEON COME AROUND SUNDOWN 40,386
7 EMINEM RECOVERY 37,646
8 DIAMOND*NEIL DREAMS 34,639
9*PAISLEY*BRAD HITS ALIVE 30,845
10 JOHN*ELTON & LEON RUSSEL UNION 26,678
11 STEWART*ROD FLY ME TO THE MOON: THE GREAT 25,676
12 CHESNEY*KENNY HEMINGWAY'S WHISKEY 23,237
13*PERRY*KATY TEENAGE DREAM 22,991
14 RUCKER*DARIUS CHARLESTON, SC 19662
15 BAND PERRY*THE BAND PERRY 21,063

[HolidayGuy]

Of course it's a huge drop- and most albums experience huge drops in their second weeks. And the point is? :) Plus, the extra day probably didn't make all that much difference- people who wanted the album would have had one of the next six days to get it, after all.

And- how exactly were the sales inflated by amazon.com, when Amazon comprised just 40K of the first-week take?

[Deleted]

And before slick what's his name shows up

7 EMINEM RECOVERY 37,646

All hail Eminem :o

[areyoureadytojump]

Nov 10, 2010 19:04:08 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Of course it's a huge drop- and most albums experience huge drops in their second weeks. And the point is? :) Plus, the extra day probably didn't make all that much difference- people who wanted the album would have had one of the next six days to do so, after all.

And- how exactly were the sales inflated by amazon.com, when Amazon comprised just 40K of the first-week take?

Thank you!

68%-72% is a common 2nd week fall for big named artists' albums.

[slicknickshady]

Nov 10, 2010 19:06:13 GMT -5 @2m said:

And before slick what's his name shows up

7 EMINEM RECOVERY 37,646

All hail Eminem :o

[areyoureadytojump]

Will the following albums be certified by the RIAA on tomorrow's chart?

Numbers are from the 11/13/10 chart except where noted:

Eminem 2,898,620
Trey Songz 451k
Katy Perry 527k
Linkin Park 455k
Taylor Swift EP 584k
Rick Ross 452k
Now 34 434k
B.O.B. 438k
Kid Cudi 482k
Iron Man 2 Sdtk 431k
Rascal Flatts 933k

Albums only on the BB200 for 5+ weeks are listed and have sold over 400k.

[areyoureadytojump]

SOUNDSCAN (WEEK ENDING 11/7/10)
1) Taylor Swift – Speak Now – 319,701
2) Jason Aldean – My Kinda Party – 192,973
3) Sugarland – Incredible Machine – 59,948

Other Debuts
4) Mariah Carey – Merry Christmas II You – 55,447
8 ) Neil Diamond – Dreams – 34,639
9) Brad Paisley – Hits Alive – 30,845
20) N.E.R.D – Nothing – 19,748
24) Escape The Fate – Escape The Fate – 18,463
26) Punk Goes Pop – Vol. 3 Punk Goes Pop – 17,873
27) Matt & Kim – Sidewalks – 17,307
28) Good Charlotte – Cardiology – 16,746
36) Elvis Costello – National Ransom – 13,635
45) Weezer – Death To False Metal – 10,253
61) Pitbull – Armando – 7,175

[areyoureadytojump]

Weeks on Da Charts This Weeks Charting Artist Album title This Weeks Sales Total Sales

2 1 TAYLOR SWIFT SPEAK NOW 319701 1366441
1 2 JASON ALDEAN MY KINDA PARTY 192973 192998
3 3 SUGARLAND INCREDIBLE MACHINE 59948 351356
1 4 MARIAH CAREY MERRY CHRISTMAS II YOU 55447 55490
6 5 LIL WAYNE I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING 44850 410936
3 6 KINGS OF LEON COME AROUND SUNDOWN 40386 292550
21 7 EMINEMRECOVERY 37646 2936266
1 8 NEIL DIAMOND DREAMS 34639 34837
1 9 BRAD PAISLEY HITS ALIVE 30845 30862
3 10 ELTON JOHN & LEON RUSSELL UNION 26678 143628
3 11 ROD STEWART FLY ME TO THE MOON: THE GREAT 25676 135620
6 12 KENNY CHESNEY HEMINGWAY'S WHISKEY 23237 361327
11 13 KATY PERRY TEENAGE DREAM 22991 550849
4 14 DARIUS RUCKER CHARLESTON, SC 1966 22159 186962
4 15 THE BAND PERRY BAND PERRY 21063 122162
8 16 TREY SONGZ PASSION PAIN & PLEASURE 20563 471979
4 17 LADY ANTEBELLUM MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS 20436 58831
33 18 JUSTIN BIEBER MY WORLD 2.0 20392 1943399
38 19 MUMFORD & SONS SIGH NO MORE 19963 354821
1 20 N.E.R.D. NOTHING 19748 19826

[Deleted]

Nov 10, 2010 19:04:08 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Of course it's a huge drop- and most albums experience huge drops in their second weeks. And the point is? :) Plus, the extra day probably didn't make all that much difference- people who wanted the album would have had one of the next six days to do so, after all.

And- how exactly were the sales inflated by amazon.com, when Amazon comprised just 40K of the first-week take?

You just made my point(s) clearly in your post.

You just stated that Amazon comprised "just" 40k in sales. Well, that 40k is just about the amount that put her over the 1 million mark.

Obviously, that extra 1 day of sales also boosted her sales total.

Thus, her first week was artificially inflated. It gave her the "Over 1 million sold" headlines, but, as I said, her huge 2nd week drop is indicative of the boost from the Amazon deal + the extra day in sales. So, those factors did alter her 1st week sales total. As I said, your post made my point(s) for me.

I am not discounting the fact that 60+% drops are more accepted these days. In regard to Taylor, I may have phrased it wrong, but I am referring to the huge 2nd week drop being indicative that her first week sales were inflated, purposely, due to the factors I mentioned.

Taylor's 2nd week drop might not have been as bad if it weren't for those factors, but they did allow her to get the headlines.

On another note: I find it interesting that some people notice the big drops of certain artists and are allowed to discuss it while it seems like it's a crime to mention the big drops of other artists - which are all but ignored and dismissed as "normal." That's just something I've noticed while reading a lot of General Music News threads.

My final note: It is disappointing that overall sales keep declining. I prefer purchasing cds instead of downloading.

[Diego]

I wonder if Merry Christmas re-entered the BB200?

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Nov 10, 2010 20:56:16 GMT -5 @musicstfan said:

You just made my point(s) clearly in your post.

You just stated that Amazon comprised "just" 40k in sales. Well, that 40k is just about the amount that put her over the 1 million mark.

Subtract 40k from the album's debut and it would still be over the million mark. Aside from that, the 40k Amazon figure was from digital orders and physical orders (that weren't available for $3.99). Your point is moot, at best.

[badrobot]

People purchased 1,047,000 copies of Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" over Soundscan's 7-day tracking period the week of its debut. Fact. Those are hard numbers. There was no "artificial inflation."

I don't care about Taylor Swift at all but to claim that somehow her sales were "artificially inflated" is completely and utterly ridiculous.

You want to argue that she and her record label used a lot of promotional efforts to get that number as high as possible? Sure! But guess what, every record label wants to sell more albums!

[HolidayGuy]

^Indeed. The 40K was from both physical and digital sales- so she would have been comfortabluy over 1 million without any digital amaozn sales (was it even priced $3.99 for the whole week?)

What bias could there be in discussing second-week drops? As noted, the norm is near 70%- whoever it is, that is the case- no ifs, ands or buts about it. No special cases for particular acts.

MusicSTFan, would this be an issue to you if it were Shania Twain (who I enjoy much) and the same "inflated" factors were involved? Would the drop be disappointing to you?

[Deleted]

1 million in 1 week
1.36 million total in 2 weeks
probably in the 1.6 million range after 3 weeks

Regardless of whether it was released on Monday or Tuesday, these would still be the numbers.

As said many times before, the many first-day buyers out there that bought on Monday would have simply bought on Tuesday instead

[SHOOTER]

Sunshine must have only sold 2-3k.

[Deleted]

Nov 10, 2010 22:41:30 GMT -5 badrobot said:

People purchased 1,047,000 copies of Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" over Soundscan's 7-day tracking period the week of its debut. Fact. Those are hard numbers. There was no "artificial inflation."

I don't care about Taylor Swift at all but to claim that somehow her sales were "artificially inflated" is completely and utterly ridiculous.

You want to argue that she and her record label used a lot of promotional efforts to get that number as high as possible? Sure! But guess what, every record label wants to sell more albums!

Neither you nor WILL™ are understanding what I'm saying. That's ok.

Moving on.

Nov 10, 2010 22:51:12 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

What bias could there be in discussing second-week drops? As noted, the norm is near 70%- whoever it is, that is the case- no ifs, ands or buts about it. No special cases for particular acts.

MusicSTFan, would this be an issue to you if it were Shania Twain (who I enjoy much) and the same "inflated" factors were involved? Would the drop be disappointing to you?

Yes. The drop would be disappointing. If it were Shania who had put up those numbers under the same conditions that Taylor had, I would definitely be disappointed by the huge drop in sales. What logical fan wouldn't be at least a little disappointed in a 700,000 copy sales drop in the 2nd week?

Anyway...moving on...

Next week...

[Nic (Britney Spears)]

Nov 11, 2010 1:17:10 GMT -5 @musicstfan said:

Nov 10, 2010 22:41:30 GMT -5 badrobot said:

People purchased 1,047,000 copies of Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" over Soundscan's 7-day tracking period the week of its debut. Fact. Those are hard numbers. There was no "artificial inflation."

I don't care about Taylor Swift at all but to claim that somehow her sales were "artificially inflated" is completely and utterly ridiculous.

You want to argue that she and her record label used a lot of promotional efforts to get that number as high as possible? Sure! But guess what, every record label wants to sell more albums!

Neither you nor WILL™ are understanding what I'm saying. That's ok.

Moving on.

Nov 10, 2010 22:51:12 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

What bias could there be in discussing second-week drops? As noted, the norm is near 70%- whoever it is, that is the case- no ifs, ands or buts about it. No special cases for particular acts.

MusicSTFan, would this be an issue to you if it were Shania Twain (who I enjoy much) and the same "inflated" factors were involved? Would the drop be disappointing to you?

Yes. The drop would be disappointing. If it were Shania who had put up those numbers under the same conditions that Taylor had, I would definitely be disappointed by the huge drop in sales. What logical fan wouldn't be at least a little disappointed in a 700,000 copy sales drop in the 2nd week?

Anyway...moving on...

Next week...

Good thing you don't like J-Pop..where sales usually drop over 90% during the second week.

[neverduplicated]

Nov 10, 2010 21:31:26 GMT -5 Diego said:

I wonder if Merry Christmas re-entered the BB200?

I just checked at Billboard.com and unfortunately it did not.

However, I noticed that Weezer's Pinkerton re-entered the chart at #73 this week. Very happy that this classic album (definitely Weezer's best) is still getting noticed today, but does anyone know why it suddenly re-entered?

[#LisaRinna]

16 TREY SONGZ PASSION PAIN & PLEASURE 20563 471979

Amazing consistent sales. Getting a Pop hit is doing wonders for him.

Merry Christmas must have been close to re-enter the chart. It was in the top 150 at iTunes for most of the week and I suspect that it did rather good in stores as well.