Billboard 200: 1/22/11: Taylor Swift No. 1- 52,000

[HolidayGuy]

We start with sales courtesy of Idol Chatter.

Idol-Related Albums

9. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party: 29,000 (-15%, 717,000 total)

28. Various, Now That's What I Call Music! 36: 14,000 (-37%, 472,000)

47. Crystal Bowersox, Farmer's Daughter: 9,000 (-13%, 116,000 total)

103. Carrie Underwood, Play On: 5,000 (-30%, 1.929 million)
106. Glee Cast, Glee: The Music, Vol. 1: 5,000 (-25%, 1.106 million)

124. Fantasia, Back to Me: 4,000 (-28%, 388,000)

147. Lee DeWyze, Live It Up: 4,000 (-20%, 106,000)

170. Daughtry, Leave This Town: 3,000 (-17%, 1.228 million)

Others:
Daughtry, Daughtry: 2,000 (-19%)
Various, WOW Hits 2010: 1,000 (-16%, 460,000)

[carrieidol1]

Crystal and Lee, both pathetic, but glad to see Crystal ahead.

[HolidayGuy]

Information from both Idol Chatter and Hip Hop DX:

2. Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday: 39,000 (890,000)
3. Bruno Mars, Doo Wops & Hooligans: 38,000 (496,000)
5. Eminem, Recovery: 33,000 (3.448 million)
6. Rihanna, Loud: 33,000 (785,000)
7. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: 33,000 (915,000)
9. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party: 29,000 (-15%, 717,000 total)

19. T.I., No Mercy: 19,000 (353,000)

25. Lil Wayne, I Am Not A Human Being: 15,000 (680,000)
28. Various, Now That's What I Call Music! 36: 14,000 (-37%, 472,000)

40. Diddy - Dirty Money, Last Train To Paris: 11,000 (172,000)

47. Crystal Bowersox, Farmer's Daughter: 9,000 (-13%, 116,000 total)

103. Carrie Underwood, Play On: 5,000 (-30%, 1.929 million)
106. Glee Cast, Glee: The Music, Vol. 1: 5,000 (-25%, 1.106 million)

124. Fantasia, Back to Me: 4,000 (-28%, 388,000)
125. Ghostface Killah, Apollo Kids: 3,800 (23,000)

147. Lee DeWyze, Live It Up: 4,000 (-20%, 106,000)

170. Daughtry, Leave This Town: 3,000 (-17%, 1.228 million)
173. Lloyd Banks, H.F.M.2 (The Hunger For More 2): 2,600 (82,000)

Others:
Daughtry, Daughtry: 2,000 (-19%)
Various, WOW Hits 2010: 1,000 (-16%, 460,000)

[slicknickshady]

YES! Recovery in the Top 5. They have the overall total wrong though.

[ListenToItTwice]

Jan 12, 2011 12:15:32 GMT -5 slicknickshady said:

YES! Recovery in the Top 5. They have the overall total wrong though.

Just a small typo.. 3.348 million instead of 3.448.

Teenage Dream passed 1,000,000 this week. Nicki Minaj and Kanye West are each on their way there, as well.

[Joe1240]

Taylor Swift should be #1 for sure. :)

[Adam (UTR)]

As record sales remained slow after the holiday shopping season, Taylor Swift's Speak Now once again topped the sales chart for the sixth week in a row. It maintained the #1 position by selling only 52,000 copies, which is a 32 percent decline from the previous week. Speak Now has sold over 3 million copies to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The rest of the Top 10 was filled out by the usual suspects. Nicki Minaj is at #2 with Pink Friday, selling 38,600, and Bruno Mars is at #3 with Doo-Wops and Hooligans, selling another 38,100 copies. The Tron Legacy soundtrack shifted 34,000 units for the #4 spot, and Eminem's Recovery was at #5 with 33,400. Recovery was the top selling album of 2010 and has now sold almost 3.5 million copies.

In the back half of the Top 10, Rihanna's Loud holds down the #6 spot with 33,300 sold, and Kanye West is at #7 with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, selling 33,200. Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More is #8 with 31,000, Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party is #9 with 29,000, and the Country Strong movie soundtrack is #10 with 28,400.

--FMQB

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard is so late this week.

[ListenToItTwice]

^^ They're probably just too boggled about how bad the numbers are to actually write an article.

[HolidayGuy]

At least overall album sales did not reach a new low (at least not yet):

Billboard.com:

Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' Takes No. 1 in Record-Low Sales Week
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. | January 12, 2011 12:39 EST

This week, though Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" remains at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a sixth nonconsecutive week, it does so while earning a dubious honor. With just 52,000 copies sold (down 32%), it earns the distinction of notching the lowest-ever sales frame for a No. 1 album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.

Since SoundScan was established, the previous low had been set by the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack on the Jan. 27, 2007, chart, when it scanned slightly more than 60,000 units.

We came close to setting a new record last year, when Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" spent its fourth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the May 29 chart, shifting only a couple hundred copies more than the "Dreamgirls" low.

With album sales continuing to slide each year (in 2010 volume was down 12.7%), the new woeful record low shouldn't come as a surprise. And there's potential to break that record too, as no blockbuster albums are on the horizon.

That's in stark contrast to how 2010 got off to an unusually sexy start. This week a year ago, Ke$ha's "Animal" debuted at No. 1 with 152,000 and was followed in successive weeks by Vampire Weekend's "Contra" (No. 1; 124,000), the "Hope for Haiti Now" compilation (No. 1; 171,000) and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (No. 1; 481,000).

But let's get back to this week's top 10 albums recap. Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" climbs two to No. 2 with 39,000 (down 36%) while Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" also rises, up four to No. 3-matching its original debut and peak-with 38,000 (down 15%). Daft Punk's "TRON: Legacy" soundtrack is up two spots to No. 4 (a new high) with 34,000 (down 37%). The next three slots are only separated by a few hundred units: Eminem's "Recovery" falls three to No. 5 (33,000; down 47%), Rihanna's "Loud" slips three to No. 6 (33,000; down 46%), and Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" slides two to No. 7 (33,000; down 43%). Holding at No. 8 is Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More" (31,000; down 20%) while Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" rises four to No. 9 (29,000; down 15%).

Making a big move up the list this week is the "Country Strong" soundtrack, which flies 139 positions to No. 10 with 28,000 (up 477%). The film, which had been in limited release since Dec. 22, was released nationwide to more than 1,000 theaters on Jan. 7. Coincidentally, the Billboard 200's highest debut (at No. 48) is from the partner soundtrack to the movie, the iTunes-exclusive "Country Strong: More Music From the Motion Picture," which enters with 9,000 (up 1,310%).

Meanwhile, over on the Digital Songs chart, Bruno Mars' "Grenade" continues to hold at No. 1 for a fourth week in a row, shifting 275,000 (down 35%). Katy Perry's "Firework" also maintains its position at No. 2 (230,000; down 42%). Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" rises two to No. 3 (192,000; down 29%), Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" is up three to No. 4 (186,000; down 29%), and the Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" climbs three to No. 5 (181,000; down 30%). Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" drops three to No. 6 (174,000; down 46%), Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot" rises five spots to No. 7 (160,000; down 12%), and P!nk's "Raise Your Glass" slips four to No. 8 (158,000; down 42%). Closing out the top 10 is Rihanna's "What's My Name?," down three to No. 9 (150,000; down 43%) and Taio Cruz's "Dynamite," up three to No. 10 (125,000; down 31%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Jan. 9) totaled 5.4 million units, down 24% compared with the sum last week (7.1 million) and 8% compared with the comparable sales week of 2010 (5.9 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 5.4 million, down 8% compared with the same total at this point last year (5.9 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 29.8 million downloads, down 29% compared with last week (42.1 million) and up 8% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (27.5 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 42.1 million, up 8% compared to the same total at this point last year (27.5 million).

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2010 when: Vampire Weekend's "Contra" bowed atop the list with 124,000, pushing the previous week's No. 1-debuting set, Ke$ha's "Animal," down to No. 3 (67,000; down 56%). Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" held at No. 2 with 77,000 (down 18%).

[pnobelysk]

Glee volume 2 is finally off the chart, it will prbly come back in Feb when new episodes start airing again

im very pleased with Fantasia, shes looking at a total a little over 400k. Going from 530k to 400k isnt a bad decline at all. Hopefully they release a 3rd single off it to promote on idol, and hopefully it get win a grammy.

Carrie should release a 5th single to get play on over 2 million sales.

[melody56]

Numbers so far...

1 SWIFT*TAYLOR SPEAK NOW 52,028 -32 77,001 3,012,359
2 MINAJ*NICKI PINK FRIDAY 38,642 -36 60,853 890,483
3 MARS*BRUNO DOO - WOPS & HOOLIGANS 38,175 -15 45,160 495,937
4 SOUNDTRACK TRON LEGACY 34,333 -37 54,385 277,234
5 EMINEM RECOVERY 33,417 -47 63,316 3,448,344
6 RIHANNA LOUD 33,387 -46 61,686 785,284
7 WEST*KANYE MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANT 33,240 -43 58,436 915,391
8 MUMFORD & SONS SIGH NO MORE 31,005 -20 38,547 657,470
9 ALDEAN*JASON MY KINDA PARTY 29,362 -15 34,356 716,639
10 VARIOUS ARTISTS COUNTRY STRONG (ORIG 28,450 477 4,929 71,399
11 PERRY*KATY TEENAGE DREAM 28,028 -27 38,223 1,024,580
12 LADY ANTEBELLUM MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS 26,566 175 9,660 279,766
13 KELLY*R. LOVE LETTER 25,612 -24 33,692 311,127
14 BLACK KEYS BROTHERS 24,957 18 21,239 505,994
15 BLACK EYED PEAS THE BEGINNING 22,652 -35 35,061 409,674
16 FOXX*JAMIE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE 22,588 -37 35,599 202,115
17 KID ROCK BORN FREE 21,731 -21 27,586 661,823
18 LADY ANTEBELLUM NEED YOU NOW 19,465 2 18,993 3,108,768
19 T.I. NO MERCY 19,318 -41 32,646 352,601
20 P!NK GREATEST HITS SO FAR 18,832 -15 22,245 303,100
21 JACKSON*MICHAEL MICHAEL 17,734 -35 27,332 423,017
22 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC, V4 17,284 -34 26,003 422,886
23 COLE*KEYSHIA CALLING ALL HEARTS 16,820 -54 36,558 181,344
24 HILSON*KERI NO BOYS ALLOWED 16,793 -49 32,747 152,045
25 LIL WAYNE I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING 15,484 -41 26,390 679,616
26 FLORENCE + THE MACHINE LUNGS 15,237 -26 20,499 389,619
27 GROBAN*JOSH ILLUMINATIONS 14,972 -36 23,222 658,091
28 VARIOUS NOW 36 14,218 -37 22,416 472,250
29 BROWN*ZAC BAND YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE 14,061 -14 16,295 611,387
30 RASCAL FLATTS NOTHING LIKE THIS 13,869 -28 19,212 559,011
31 CHESNEY*KENNY HEMINGWAY'S WHISKEY 13,734 -13 15,854 630,618
32 KE$HA CANNIBAL 13,256 -51 26,978 240,370
33 MCGRAW*TIM NUMBER ONE HITS 12,578 -24 16,635 199,437
34 SUGARLAND INCREDIBLE MACHINE 12,471 -26 16,857 794,026
36 BAND PERRY*THE BAND PERRY 12,089 -18 14,683 343,909
37 BIEBER*JUSTIN MY WORLD 2.0 12,088 -31 17,596 2,330,833
40 DIDDY - DIRTY MONEY LAST TRAIN TO PARIS 11,008 -48 21,130 172,274
41 DRAKE THANK ME LATER 10,693 -30 15,358 1,279,473
46 GREEN*CEE LO LADY KILLER 9,510 -28 13,192 176,633
47 BOWERSOX*CRYSTAL FARMER'S DAUGHTER 9,444 -13 10,801 115,811
49 KID CUDI MAN ON THE MOON 2: THE LEGEND 8,956 -50 17,972 340,006
50 URBAN*KEITH GET CLOSER 8,948 -26 12,155 496,571
51 LADY GAGA FAME 8,845 -30 12,698 3,987,350
53 SONGZ*TREY PASSION PAIN & PLEASURE 8,548 -33 12,742 639,684
54 ARCADE FIRE SUBURBS 8,519 -29 11,923 459,083
55 WILSON*CHARLIE JUST CHARLIE 8,440 -25 11,199 137,767
57 LAMBERT*MIRANDA REVOLUTION 8,094 -30 11,528 1,135,514
58 JACKSON*ALAN 34 NUMBER ONES 7,732 -21 9,832 168,987
59 TANK NOW OR NEVER 7,717 -32 11,361 85,029
62 RUCKER*DARIUS CHARLESTON, SC 1966 7,478 -21 9,516 362,705
65 NE-YO LIBRA SCALE 7,351 -36 11,497 229,956
66 SULLIVAN*JAZMINE LOVE ME BACK 7,304 -16 8,719 128,888
67 SHELTON*BLAKE LOADED: THE BEST OF BLAKE SHEL 7,113 -9 7,817 129,390
68 NELLY 5 7,010 -37 11,161 198,360
71 BROWN*ZAC BAND FOUNDATION 6,831 -28 9,503 2,477,573
75 CRUZ*TAIO ROKSTARR 6,503 8 6,044 191,177
76 JOHN*ELTON & LEON RUSSEL UNION 6,489 2 6,388 295,577
77 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 6,196 -35 9,585 6,223,504
80 WAKA FLOCKA FLAME FLOCKAVELI 5,883 -39 9,598 166,156
83 AVENGED SEVENFOLD NIGHTMARE 5,740 -40 9,556 448,453
84 CURRINGTON*BILLY ENJOY YOURSELF 5,730 -20 7,132 211,024
87 ROSS*RICK TEFLON DON 5,528 -31 8,053 541,299
88 USHER VERSUS 5,510 13 4,866 239,831
89 KEM INTIMACY 5,508 -8 5,959 305,753
89 BUBLE*MICHAEL CRAZY LOVE 5,508 -21 6,933 1,993,939
92 B.O.B B.O.B PRESENTS: THE ADVENTURES 5,254 -47 9,869 495,667
93 CHURCH*ERIC CAROLINA 5,244 -17 6,298 369,912
94 JAY-Z HITS COLLECTION 5,206 -35 7,978 92,034
94 VARIOUS NOW 35 5,206 -43 9,149 490,769
96 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC V1 5,086 -25 6,739 1,105,730
98 PAISLEY*BRAD HITS ALIVE 5,076 -26 6,858 180,517
100 SOUNDTRACK TANGLED 5,049 -27 6,958 58,741
101 BAREILLES*SARA KALEIDOSCOPE HEART 4,972 -26 6,727 264,139
102 BROKEN BELLS BROKEN BELLS 4,952 -18 6,020 309,861
103 UNDERWOOD*CARRIE PLAY ON 4,901 -30 6,962 1,928,686
104 KID CUDI MAN ON THE MOON: THE END OF DA 4,890 -35 7,472 537,396
105 FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH WAR IS THE ANSWER 4,888 -31 7,101 421,232
106 NIEMANN*JERROD JUDGE JERROD & THE HUNG JURY 4,842 -18 5,930 213,872
107 MCENTIRE*REBA ALL THE WOMEN I AM 4,747 -27 6,508 217,884
108 KEITH*TOBY BULLETS IN THE GUN 4,659 -26 6,280 270,165
109 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC,V3 4,655 -27 6,355 612,250
110 MY DARKEST DAYS MY DARKEST DAYS 4,619 -21 5,883 86,741
111 JOHNSON*JAMEY GUITAR SONG 4,553 -30 6,467 249,536
112 PHOENIX WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX 4,551 -22 5,815 553,814
113 SHAKIRA SALE EL SOL 4,521 -22 5,814 155,249
116 FAR EAST MOVEMENT FREE WIRED 4,431 -35 6,809 91,343
118 USHER RAYMOND V RAYMOND 4,341 -12 4,923 1,186,973
119 STEWART*ROD FLY ME TO THE MOON: THE GREAT 4,287 -15 5,044 285,750
122 CASTRO*CRISTIAN VIVA EL PRINCIPE 4,184 2 4,086 32,945
123 CIARA BASIC INSTINCT 4,182 -41 7,054 68,322
124 FANTASIA BACK TO ME 4,177 -28 5,771 388,021
125 LAMONTAGNE*RAY & THE PARIAH DO GOD WILLIN' & THE CREEK DON'T 4,147 -24 5,475 234,213
126 SHINEDOWN SOUND OF MADNESS 4,126 -23 5,377 1,172,346
128 VAMPIRE WEEKEND CONTRA 4,103 -45 7,473 454,914
129 LECRAE REHAB 4,092 -4 4,267 69,772
131 IGLESIAS*ENRIQUE EUPHORIA 4,085 -18 4,967 229,167
132 BIEBER*JUSTIN MY WORLD 4,044 -37 6,445 1,711,675
134 TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE ORIGINA SOUNDTRACK 4,013 -38 6,424 521,488
139 GHOSTFACE KILLAH APOLLO KIDS 3,832 -37 6,084 23,345
142 EL DEBARGE SECOND CHANCE 3,666 -21 4,656 61,781
143 BENET*ERIC LOST IN TIME 3,644 -30 5,226 77,911
147 DEWYZE*LEE LIVE IT UP 3,534 -20 4,411 105,667
150 KANDI KANDI KOATED 3,480 -36 5,432 40,563
153 NATIONAL HIGH VIOLET 3,440 -17 4,148 211,615
160 MICHELE*CHRISETTE LET FREEDOM REIGN 3,354 -33 5,037 88,397
168 CORBIN*EASTON EASTON CORBIN 3,142 -24 4,131 307,757
176 BEACH HOUSE TEEN DREAM 3,033 -32 4,428 104,217
184 LEGEND*JOHN WAKE UP! 2,896 -38 4,653 213,531
188 BRYAN*LUKE DOIN' MY THING 2,848 -32 4,194 504,560
194 SOULJA BOY DEANDRE WAY 2,772 -45 5,026 46,801
195 VARIOUS STEP UP 3D 2,771 -38 4,461 65,012
196 SADE SOLDIER OF LOVE 2,762 20 2,304 1,302,523

[kingofpain]

Well that sucks, I guess Mumford & Sons didn't get a new peak after all, and the Black Keys weren't a top 10 contender after all.

[HolidayGuy]

Lady A's holiday EP did reach a new peak, though still not top 10.

[Rodze]

Y'all should be thankful Taylor is the no. 1 with the lowest sales.

Without her, the number one album would have been one that sold thirty something thousand.

[Deleted]

Jan 12, 2011 14:01:41 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Lady A's holiday EP did reach a new peak, though still not top 10.

Will likely come back down next week. Albums that linger on after Christmas due to discounting or clearing out stock don't last too long

[Deleted]

Would expect this list to get an overhaul this year but here is the current top 10 in regards to lowest sales for a #1


52,028 Taylor Swift - Speak Now (1/22/11)
60,064 Dreamgirls (1/27/07)
60,343 Justin Bieber - My World 2.0 (5/29/10)
60,519 Alicia Keys - As I Am (2/2/2008 )
61,259 Alicia Keys - As I Am (2/16/2008)
62,272 Taylor Swift - Fearless (3/7/2009)
62,575 Taylor Swift - Fearless (2/7/09)
62,947 Glee: The Music: Volume 3: The Showstoppers (6/12/10)
63,301 Tayor Swift - Fearless (1/31/09)
64,831 Juno (2/9/2008)

[HolidayGuy]

Yes, I don't expect Lady A's holiday EP to be ranked high for long. :)

And, indeed- without Speak Now, the No. 1 album would have sold less than 40K. The release schedule is so dire that HITS doesn't even have dates posted for album releases. lol

[BRhap786]

^^^

Wow, before this the lowest #1 was barely beaten by the previous lowest, but this time by more than 8,000 copies! I wonder how low the lowest will sell before bigger albums come out later this year...

Thanks for the list btw, very interesting.

[HolidayGuy]

Yahoo! Chart Watch:

Week Ending Jan. 9, 2011: Albums: A New Low
Posted by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

Well, it finally happened. For the first time since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard in 1991, not one album sold 60,000 copies last week. The week's top-seller, with sales of 52,000, was Taylor Swift's Speak Now. The previous low sales total for an album at #1 was the Dreamgirls soundtrack, which topped the chart with sales of 60,000 four years ago this month.

Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack was the first album in the Nielsen SoundScan era to sell fewer than 100,000 copies in a week in which it was #1. It sold 91K in its 20th and final week on top in May 1993. That constituted the "low sales" record for a #1 album until January 2004, when OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below sold 86K in its seventh and final week on top. Dreamgirls inherited the unwanted title in January 2007 when it sold 66K in its first week at #1. It earned it again when it sold just 60K in its second week on top.

While Swift would probably rather not be associated with such a downer news item, it's really no reflection on her. The fact that the album is still #1 in its 11th week on the market is a tribute to Swift's appeal. (Speak Now is the first album to rank #1 this deep into its run since Swift's previous album, Fearless, which was #1 as late as its 16th week.)

Speak Now tops the 3 million mark in sales in its 11th week. It's the fastest that any album has sold 3M copies in the U.S. since Susan Boyle's phenomenal I Dreamed A Dream, which rang up that total in just six weeks. Eminem's Recovery took 22 weeks to reach 3M, as did (and this surprised me) Swift's previous album, Fearless. Lady Antebellum's Need You Now took 48 weeks.

While sales are soft this week, a few albums made some moves. Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday, which debuted at #2 six weeks ago, climbs from #4 to #2. The album has sold a healthy 890,000 copies. Pink Friday debuted behind Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but it has outsold that album in each of the last five weeks. West has sold 25,000 more copies than Minaj overall, largely on the strength of his first-week margin of 121,000, but Minaj is quickly catching up.

Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack jumps from #6 to #4. It's the highest-charting score soundtrack since Star Wars Episode 1-The Phantom Menace debuted and peaked at #3 in May 1999. John Williams composed that score. Both of these are venerable properties. The first Star Wars movie was released in 1977. The first Tron movie (which was scored by Wendy Carlos) was released in 1982.

Tron: Legacy has been the top-charting soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie for the past five weeks. It has been #1 on the Digital Albums chart for three of the last four weeks. (I have more on this theme after the top 10 list.)

The Country Strong soundtrack vaults from #149 to #10 in its fifth week on the chart. This is the album's highest position to date. Gwyneth Paltrow stars in the just-opened movie with country star Tim McGraw. This is the first time in more than a year that two soundtracks to theatrically-released movies have appeared in the top 10 simultaneously. It last happened in December 2009, when Michael Jackson's This Is It and The Twilight Saga: New Moon ranked #8 and #9, respectively. (A second, digital-only album, More Music From Country Strong, bows at #48 this week with sales of 9K.)

Chart Watch Times Two: Bruno Mars' "Grenade" tops Hot Digital Songs for the fourth straight week. But will it have the firepower to return to #1 on the Hot 100? Katy Perry's "Firework" moved back into the lead on that chart last week, despite being outsold digitally. You'll have to wait until later today to find out. You see, we're splitting Chart Watch in two. The first installment, which you are reading now, will focus on albums. The second one, which will go up Wednesdays around 5:30, West Coast time, will focus on songs. The reason for the split is that the column has been getting a little long, especially for those of you who read it on mobile devices. Another reason is that songs are more popular than albums these days, so they should receive at least as much attention as albums. And this week is the logical time to make the change, because this is the first week of Nielsen SoundScan's 2010 chart year.

The format of the second column will be similar to the first. I'll count down the top 10 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 and also indicate how many digital copies each song sold this week. I'll carry the "Song Scorecard" feature (in which I note which songs top various sales thresholds) over to that column. I hope you enjoy both installments of Chart Watch.

Shameless Plug: If a pop music star put seven albums on The Billboard 200 chart, had a Hot 100 single, won a Grammy, made the cover of Rolling Stone, and inspired several well-known tribute songs, you'd say he had a big-time career. It may surprise you to learn that Dr. Martin Luther King achieved all these milestones of pop success. I've just turned in a Chart Watch Extra on King. It will probably go up Friday, just ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which is of course on Monday.

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

1. Taylor Swift, Speak Now, 52,000. The album holds at #1 for the sixth week. This is its 11th week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Back To December" dips from #26 to #28. "Mine" drops from #35 to #56.

2. Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday, 39,000. The album jumps from #4 to #2 in its seventh week. It has been in the top 10 the whole time. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Moment 4 Life," which jumps from #90 to #54.

3. Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, 38,000. The album jumps from #7 to #3 in its 14th week. This matches its highest position to date. This is its third week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Grenade," which holds at #1 for the fourth week.

4. Daft Punk, Tron: Legacy soundtrack, 34,000. The album jumps from #6 to #4 in its fifth week. This is its highest ranking to date. This is its third week in the top 10. "Derezzed" drops from #139 to #164 on Hot Digital Songs.

5. Eminem, Recovery, 33,000. The former #1 album drops from #2 to #5 in its 29th week. This is its 23rd week in the top 10. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "No Love," which dips from #40 to #41.

6. Rihanna, Loud, 33,000. The album drops from #3 to #6 in its eighth week. This is its seventh week in the top 10. (It's #1 in the U.K. for the second straight week.) Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "What's My Name?" (featuring Drake), which dips from #6 to #9.

7. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 33,000. The former #1 album drops from #5 to #7 in its seventh week. This is its fourth week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Runaway" (featuring Pusha T), which drops rom #89 to #105.

8. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More, 31,000. The album holds at #8 in its 42nd week. This is its second week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Little Lion Man" jumps from #72 to #70. "Cave" jumps from #192 to #136.

9. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party, 29,000. The album rebounds from #13 to #9 in its 10th week. This is its third week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Don't You Wanna Stay" (featuring Kelly Clarkson) jumps from #57 to #40. "My Kinda Party" drops from #50 to #57.

10. Various Artists, Country Strong soundtrack, 28,000. The soundtrack vaults from #149 to #10 in its fifth week. This is its first week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by Gwyneth Paltrow's "Country Strong," which re-enters at #72.

Two of the albums in this week's top 10, Tron: Legacy and Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More, have sold more digital than physical copies over the course of their runs. Here are the albums in this week's top 10, ranked by which have sold the most digital copies as a percentage of their total sales to date: Tron: Legacy (62%), Sigh No More (55%), Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (42%), Country Strong (37%), Bruno Mars' Doo-Wops & Hooligans (34%), Eminem's Recovery (25%), Rihanna's Loud (24%), Taylor Swift's Speak Now (17%), Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party (17%) and Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday (15%).

I have good and bad news for Katy Perry. Good news first: Her album Teenage Dream tops the 1 million mark in its 20th week of release. (That's a big improvement over Perry's previous album, One Of The Boys, which took 48 weeks to top the 1 million mark.) Now the bad news: The album drops out of the top 10, dipping from #9 to #11. Keyshia Cole's Calling All Hearts also exits the top 10, dropping from #10 to #23.

Lady Antebellum's Merry Little Christmas vaults from #70 to #12 as retailers cut prices to dump their Christmas inventory. This is the EP's highest ranking to date. The EP peaked at #17 when it was released last fall. The country trio's Need You Now rebounds from #30 to #18 in its 50th week.

The Black Keys' Brothers jumps from #26 to #14 in its 34th week. This is the album's highest ranking since May. The duo performed on Saturday Night Live last weekend. The album is a Grammy nominee for Best Alternative Music Album.

An eponymous album by Kari Jobe, a female Contemporary Christian singer, sold 7,000 copies last week, putting it at #1 on Top Catalog Albums. Kari Jobe is the first non-Christmas album to top the chart since The Beatles/1967-1970, which scored in October. The album jumps from #81 to #63 on The Billboard 200, which is higher than it peaked (#67) when it was first released in 2009.

The Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit was #1 at the box-office over the weekend. Carter Burwell's score soundtrack sold about 1,000 copies, too few to make The Billboard 200. The soundtrack to the 1969 movie, which featured a Top 40 hit performed by the movie's co-star, Glen Campbell, reached #77.

Coming Attractions: Cage The Elephant's Thank You Happy Birthday is expected to be next week's top new entry. The band's eponymous debut album has sold 398K copies. Also due: Cake's Showroom Of Compassion and Steel Magnolia's Steel Magnolia.

[bat1990]

I feel like I'm looking at sales totals from Australia or any European country.

[Diego]

I like that he'll have a separate column for singles, he always has interesting bits of information that would be a pain to research lol

[areyoureadytojump]

I've been doing this list since June 2007. There are 21 albums on this list this week. The most ever...

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

Numbers are from the 1/15/11 chart:

Eminem 3,414,927
Rihanna 751k
Kanye West 882k
Mars Bruno 457k
Katy Perry 996k
Michael Jackson 405k
Glee Vol 4 05k
Josh Groban 643k
Now 36 468k
Black Keys 481k
Rascal Flatts 545k
Taylor Swift EP 772k
Selena Gomez 485k
Kings of Leon 498k
Justin Bieber 428k
Keith Urban 487k
Arcade Fire 450k
Avenged Sevenfold 442k
Disturbed 437k
Vampire Weekend 450k
Five Finger Death Punch 416k

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

[ListenToItTwice]

Jan 12, 2011 15:58:03 GMT -5 Diego said:

I like that he'll have a separate column for singles, he always has interesting bits of information that would be a pain to research lol

Chart Watch is one of the highlights of my week (that sounds sad, but its true), so I'm really excited about this.

[musicrocks]

Jan 12, 2011 16:23:04 GMT -5 ListenToItTwice said:

Jan 12, 2011 15:58:03 GMT -5 Diego said:

I like that he'll have a separate column for singles, he always has interesting bits of information that would be a pain to research lol

Chart Watch is one of the highlights of my week (that sounds sad, but its true), so I'm really excited about this.

Me too haha

[hitseeker.]

P!nk selling consistently for a GH, 300k is good

[HolidayGuy]

Paula Abdul actually had the lowest total for a No. 1 (less than 88,000)- two other albums in 1991 also had sales less than 100K at No. 1. (Even though SoundScan's market coverage at the time was 55% or so, it still estimated for sales it did not track). I left a comment for Paul G. with that info.

[forg]

I'm also glad Chart Watch is separating the songs and albums charts :) Paul Grein is such a good chart writer, better than anyone on Billboard.com IMO :)

melody56: thanks for the top 30! Do you happen to know how much the #200 album sold?

[imbondz]

of course if you included Limewire downloads the #1 album would be in the 200,000 or more range i'm sure.

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2011 0:15:14 GMT -5 imbondz said:

of course if you included Limewire downloads the #1 album would be in the 200,000 or more range i'm sure.

Sad but true.