Billboard 200: 6/11/11: Lady GaGa #1: 1,108,000

[Purple Dreams]

May 31, 2011 19:01:49 GMT -5 @dawson said:

May 31, 2011 18:59:06 GMT -5 chartfreak said:

When I read this, I read that it wouldn't have reached a million without the sale. It's great that she did.

Ugh. Not necessarily. Enough of those 440,000 downloaders could have easily bought Born This Way elsewhere had that sale not happened, allowing it to still reach 1,000,000.

Please play again.

yeah but the initial sales predicition increased dramatically when the deal was announced.

in any case I'm happy for her and she deserves all the success she gets

[HolidayGuy]

Why does a No. 5 peak for The Fame Monster look odd, bevausr it was the followup to The Fame and "should" have a higher peak? The EP sold decently on its own, but the bundled edition with The Fame also sold well. Even as an EP, TFM was never as low-priced as BTW, also.

RE Taylor Swift- her $3.99 pricing was just one day at Amazon, wasn't it? And it was just 40K or so between the mP3 version *and* physical copies. Amazon helped an exciting chart debut become even more exciting with its unprecedented two-day 99-cent deal for BTW.

From Hip Hop DX:
[Current Albums chart rankings)

5. Maybach Music Group Presents..., Self-Made, Volume 1: 59,000

14. Beastie Boys, Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2: 20,000 (214,000)

20. Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans: 17,000 (1.053 million)

26. Lonely Island, Turtleneck & Chain: 15,000 (106,000)
27. Wiz Khalifa, Rolling Papers: 15,000 (417,000)

39. Jadakiss, I Love You (A Dedication To My Fans): 11,000

47. Eminem, Recovery: 9,800 (3.872 million)

54. Lupe Fiasco, Lasers: 8,600 (397,000)

63. Tyler, The Creator: Goblin: 7,000 (65,000)

68. Tine Tempah, Disc-Overy: 6,300 (23,000)

[spooky21]

I like this article from MTV. It's quite balanced.

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Hits #1: What Next?

Bigger Than the Sound sizes Gaga's remarkable chart debut up against the year's other event album, Adele's 21.
By James Montgomery


As of Wednesday (June 1), Lady Gaga officially has the #1 album in the country, after selling 1,108,000 copies of Born This Way, according to Billboard.com. That's the biggest sales week since 50 Cent's The Massacre was released in 2005.


None of this should really surprise you, though. After all, no album in recent memory has been promoted to the degree that Born This Way has. You could hear it on FarmVille, in a Google Chrome commercial or through a special version of Tap Tap Revenge. You could buy it for 99 cents on Amazon.com, pick it up with a non-fat double latte at Starbucks (which also hosted an online Gaga-themed scavenger hunt) or get it at Best Buy with the purchase of a mobile phone and a two-year service contract.

That's to say nothing of the more than 20,000 "non-traditional" retailers that also stocked it ... noted musical hotspots like CVS Pharmacies, Whole Foods and Walgreens.

And in the weeks leading up to its release, you seemingly could not escape the woman behind Born This Way, either: Lady Gaga showed up on "Saturday Night Live," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "American Idol" (twice). She guest-edited V magazine and the Metro newspaper. She appeared in a documentary that aired on MTV and greeted fans at a New York City Best Buy. No word on whether she also went door-to-door handing out samples of the album, but I wouldn't put it past her.

In short, there was no way you did not know of Born This Way's existence. As Newbury Comics' director of purchasing, Carl Mello, joked to me during the release-week hype, "If people aren't aware that Lady Gaga has an album coming out, then that's a problem for Interscope." So while BTW's big first week is certainly remarkable, it was by no means unforeseen. This was an album that, from the time Gaga first announced its title in September at the VMAs, was destined to debut at #1. It was inevitable. The real test begins in the weeks afterward, when we'll all see whether Gaga's got legs.

During my conversation with Mello, he noted that while Born This Way was the top seller at Newbury's 29 locations (by a long shot), holding strong at #2 was Adele's 21, an album that, in just 14 weeks, has sold nearly 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and snagged the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 nine times. You did not get 21 with the purchase of a Samsung Epic 4G or by rhythmically tapping on your iPhone, and it was not previewed on FarmVille. In fact, about the extent of its promotion has been one official single ("Rolling in the Deep"), a handful of TV appearances and a sold-out tour. And yet, the record has sold and continues to do so. It is, without a doubt, an album that has legs.

In fact, the success of 21 is all the more remarkable when you compare it to the all-out blitz that has surrounded (and, some argue, enveloped) Born This Way. Comparing the two seems almost implausible, if not impossible. But both are genuine phenomena, albeit in completely different ways: 21 is a slow-burning hit; its success is just about as unexpected as it is old-school. BTW is an event; a big blockbuster for which failure was not an option. Adele made the industry pay attention; Gaga had their ear since last year.

And while first-week numbers are all well and good, real success is measured eight to 10 weeks down the road; it's how we know whether an album resonates, whether the singles have stuck, whether the artist is in it for the long haul. Right now, I wouldn't bet on anyone catching either Adele or Gaga in the race for 2011's best-selling album, but the real question is: Can Born This Way overtake 21 for the title? Only time — and some hit singles — will tell. With the promo that led to BTW's release, Gaga has proven that she's willing to work, but now that the album has been foisted onto the world, the real work's just beginning: she's going to have to prove she's got legs too.

[HolidayGuy]

^Yes, that's a good article/commentary on the album.

[HolidayGuy]

An article more focused on Amazon (headline a little misleading- it's not like Amazon alone brought in 1 million sales);
beta.news.yahoo.com/amazons-gamble-gives-lady-gaga-1m-album-sales-011400879.html

Amazon's gamble gives Lady Gaga 1M in album sales
APAP – Wed, Jun 1, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga sold more than 1.1 million copies of her new album "Born This Way" and set a digital sales record last week — with an assist from Amazon.com.

Billboard announced Tuesday that "Born This Way" debuted at No. 1 on its Billboard 200 album chart, becoming just the 17th album to sell a million copies in its first week since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991 and the top-selling digital debut.

The dance pop provocateur is just the fifth female with a an album that sold more than a million copies in the SoundScan era.

Lady Gaga's first No. 1 album sold the most copies of any debut since March 2005 when 50 Cent's "The Massacre" sold 1.14 million. The last million-selling album was Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" in November.

Amazon's attention-grabbing download price of 99 cents last Tuesday and Thursday helped drive "Born This Way" to an unprecedented 662,000 in digital sales, pushing the album to nearly three times initial estimates by Universal Music Group. Amazon sold more than 440,000 of those copies alone, but with mixed results.

The online retailer did grab the spotlight it had hoped in its battle for a larger piece of the online market, which is dominated by Apple's iTunes. But it came with an image hit when customers overwhelmed Amazon's system.

Amazon's move has been deemed controversial by some observers who say the steep loss of several dollars an album was not worth the investment. Physical outlets also were upset at the advantage given to an online retailer.

Dramatic price cuts are nothing new for Amazon, which regularly trims new and popular album prices to as low as $2.99 through its daily deal program.

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/#/news/lady-gaga-tops-billboard-200-brad-paisley-1005208612.story

Lady Gaga Tops Billboard 200, Brad Paisley Arrives at No. 2
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. | June 01, 2011

As previously reported, Lady Gaga comes in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart as her "Born This Way" set sold 1,108,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. That marks the largest sales week for any album since 2005 and the 17th set to shift a million units in a week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.

Country superstar Brad Paisley arrives at No. 2 behind Mother Monster with "This Is Country Music," bowing with 153,000. It's his third album to hit No. 2, following "Time Well Wasted" (2005) and "American Saturday Night" (2009). He's yet to claim a No. 1 set though -- "This Is Country Music" marks his seventh top 10 album. (He can take solace, perhaps, in how "This Is Country Music" lands him his sixth No. 1 on our Top Country Albums chart.)

Last week's No. 1, Adele's "21," slides to No. 3 with 126,000 (down 8%) while "Glee, the Music: Season Two, Volume 6" enters at No. 4 with 80,000. For the latter, it's Fox TV show's 11th release -- all of which have debuted in the top 10. Its 80,000 start is the lowest bow of any "Glee" set, save for the "Rocky Horror Glee Show" EP (48,000).

The "Maybach Music Group Presents Self Made Vol. 1" compilation debuts at No. 5 (59,000) while the "Now 38" various artists set slips three rungs to No. 6 (45,000; down 10%). The New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys compilation/collaboration album titled "NKOTBSB" (and billed to NKOTBSB) dances in at No. 7 with 40,000. The 13-track set includes five greatest hits from each group along with three new collaborations: "All in My Head," "Don't Turn Out the Lights" and "NKOTBSB Mash Up." It's the eighth consecutive top 10 for Backstreet Boys (its entire output of releases) and the fifth top 10 for the New Kids.

New group Foster the People, which has been percolating for a number of months now with its single "Pumped Up Kicks," sees its debut full-length album "Torches" start at No. 8 with 33,000. "Kicks" bowed on our Rock Songs tally on Jan. 29 and reached a peak of No. 7 last week. "Torches" saw 70% of its first week come from downloads, an unsurprising number as the iTunes Store promoted the set last week, offering its "Helena Beat" as its free single of the week.

Rounding out the top 10 albums are Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party," slipping five spots to No. 9 -- though with a gain (33,000; up 14%), and Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More," also dropping five, to No. 10 (25,000; down less than 1%).

Just outside the top 10, "American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery sees his "American Idol Season 10" digital hits album bow with 23,000 downloads. Last year, Lee DeWyze's similar best-of did 2,000 in its first week, while 2009 champ Kris Allen premiered with 10,000 of his digital set. (2009 runner-up Adam Lambert actually sold more than Allen with his "Favorite Performances" set, as it moved 16,000 in its first week.)

McCreery is also the big news on the Digital Songs chart, as his coronation single "I Love You This Big" debuts at No. 3 with 171,000 downloads sold. It's the best debut sales week for an "Idol" winner's first single since David Cook did 236,000 with "The Time of My Life" in 2008.

2011 "Idol" runner-up Lauren Alaina just misses the top 10, as her "Like My Mother Does" arrives at No. 11 with 121,000.

Back in the top 10, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" continues to hold at No. 1 with 254,000 (down 14%) while Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" (featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer) is steady at No. 2 (210,000; down 1%). Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" rises 14-4 (165,000; up 74%) -- no surprise considering her multiple performances of the song last week on TV ("Saturday Night Live," "Good Morning America" and "American Idol").

DJ Khaled's "I'm On One" (featuring Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne) is the second-highest new entry, starting at No. 5 with 159,000, while LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" slides two spots to No. 6 with 154,000 (down 5%). Katy Perry's "E.T." slips four rungs to No. 7 (148,000; down 14%), Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song" falls two to No. 8 (138,000; down 5%) and Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor" dances down two spots to No. 9 (130,000; down 6%). Closing out the top 10 is Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass," which falls one position to No. 10, though it's up 13% (128,000).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 29) totaled 6.67 million units, up 23% compared to the sum last week (5.41 million) and up 34% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (4.98 million). Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.69 million downloads, up 2% compared to last week (24.28 million) and up 14% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (21.75 million). Year to date track sales are at 536.14 million, up 10% compared to the same total at this point last year (488.01 million).

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2010 when: Jack Johnson's "To the Sea" set sail at No. 1 with 243,000 while the previous week's leader, "Glee, the Music: The Showstoppers," fell to No. 3 with 45,000 (down 29%).

[HolidayGuy]

Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

How long will things stay in the green?

[ListenToItTwice]

Jun 1, 2011 10:08:53 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

How long will things stay in the green?

Two weeks.

[when the pawn...]

Hopefully Adele, Gaga and new releases from Lil' Wayne & Beyonce will help but we're about to compete with Drake's opening week and Eminem's summer domination so it'll be tough.

[Deleted]

Jun 1, 2011 6:13:33 GMT -5 spooky21 said:

May 31, 2011 19:09:03 GMT -5 Adonis the DemiGod! said:

Also how many out of the 440k total that Amazon sold were sold at 99 cents? The album was only sold for 2/7 days at 99 cents. Therefore I want to know what the Amazon breakdown was for it's digital album sales at 99 cents vs. the regular price?

The Billboard article states that it is estimated that all 440K came from the 99cent sale. From the article......

"It's estimated that AmazonMP3 sold upwards of 440,000 downloads of its 99-cent "Born This Way" album"

That means that the Amazon regular priced set accounts for some of the other 222K sold at digital retailers.

[musicrocks]

Jun 1, 2011 10:06:31 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 29) totaled 6.67 million units, up 23% compared to the sum last week (5.41 million) and up 34% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (4.98 million). Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

Funny thing is that even without Gaga, there would still be a year-to-year increase :)

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

So Eminem is up to nearly 4 million sold but no certification yet?

[maria4hitz]

The Top Ten

Lady Gaga, Born This Way (1.108 million)
Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music (153,000)
Adele, 21 (126,000)
Glee Cast, Glee: The Music, Vol. 6 (80,000)
Various, MMG Presents: Self Made, Vol. 1 (59,000)
Various, Now That's What I Call Music! 38 (45,000)
NKOTBSB, NKOTBSB (40,000)
Foster the People, Torches (33,000)
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party (33,000)
Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More (25,000)

Idol albums

Scotty McCreery, American Idol Season 10: Scotty McCreery (23,000, debut, 23,000) (#12 Billboard 200)
Lauren Alaina, American Idol Season 10: Lauren Alaina (11,000, debut, 11,000)
Jennifer Hudson, I Remember Me (5,000, -17%, 338,000) (#84 BB200)
Carrie Underwood, Play On (3,000, +42%, 2.004 million)
Mandisa, What If We Were Real (3,000, -13%, 37,000)
Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts (2,000, +35%, 7.108 million)
Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride (2,000, +56%, 3.197 million)

Idol-related

Lady Gaga, Born This Way (1.108 million, debut, 1.111 million) (No. 1 Billboard 200)
Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music (feat. Carrie Underwood duet, Remind Me) (153,000, debut, 153,000) (#2 BB200)
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party (33,000, +14%, 1.237 million) (#9 BB200)
Il Volo, Il Volo (19,000, -17%, 43,000) (#15 BB200)
Jennifer Lopez, Love? (18,000, -18%, 156,000) (#18 BB200)
Kirk Franklin, Hello Fear (12,000, 0 change, 255,000) (#36 BB200)
Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (9,000, +81%, 104,000) (#52 BB200)
Tim McGraw, Number One Hits (6,000, +43%, 362,000) (#67 BB200)
Big Time Rush, BTR (6,000, -7%, 503,000) (#75 BB200)
Matthew Morrison, Matthew Morrison (5,000, -41%, 31,000) (#85 BB200)
Josh Turner, Icon (5,000, +49%, 33,000) (#98 BB200)
Aerosmith, Best of Aerosmith: The Millennium Collection (4,000, -5%, 279,000) (#103 BB200)

content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2011/06/lady-gaga-sells-11-million-scotty-mccreery-debuts-at-no-12/1

[bibliotheque]

Jun 1, 2011 10:34:55 GMT -5 musicrocks said:

Jun 1, 2011 10:06:31 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 29) totaled 6.67 million units, up 23% compared to the sum last week (5.41 million) and up 34% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (4.98 million). Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

Funny thing is that even without Gaga, there would still be a year-to-year increase :)

125.86 - 1.108 = 124.752

125.42 > 124.752

???

Edit: Oh you must mean the week-to-week comparisons

[Deleted]

Country superstar Brad Paisley arrives at No. 2 behind Mother Monster...

[Enigma.]

Interesting that despite the offer by Amazon, Foster the People sold digitally more than Gaga (precentage-wise of course)

[Honeymoon]

Jun 1, 2011 10:08:53 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

How long will things stay in the green?

Call me optimistic but til the end of the year I think (assuming you're talking about the overall increase rather than the week-to-week ones)

[areyoureadytojump]

Jun 1, 2011 10:42:06 GMT -5 Rose "Payola" Nylund said:

So Eminem is up to nearly 4 million sold but no certification yet?

Yep.

[popstop]

I think Eminem's label has to request the certification.

[Honeymoon]

GAGA VS. SWIFT: More fun chart factoids. Last October, when Taylor Swift’s Speak Now sold 1.044 million copies, her total represented 18% of all albums sold that week. Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which sold approximately 60k more than Swift did, represents 16.5% of the total albums sold this week. While it may not seem like a big difference, it could be a sign that the overall album market is strengthening, a fact underscored since the Swift album was released in the always-bustling Q4 last year. (6/1p)

[Moneyman202]

Jun 1, 2011 12:54:09 GMT -5 popstop said:

I think Eminem's label has to request pay the certification.

[areyoureadytojump]

Jun 1, 2011 12:54:09 GMT -5 popstop said:

I think Eminem's label has to request the certification.

Yes. We know this. Eminem's label hasn't requested the certification yet.

Last year they certified Relapse 2xp when it had SoundScanned 2 million already.

This year, they certified TES and TMML 10xp.

Who knows why the delay for Recovery. Too cheap probably...

[slw84]

May 31, 2011 21:14:08 GMT -5 @2m said:

May 31, 2011 20:15:52 GMT -5 slw84 said:

Are you going to rank it amongst top debut sales weeks for females that debuted with 1M sales or above debut week?

Since 2006 seems so random...

Nothing random about it

If you'd like though I can do a slight revision. I edited above to be the 10 biggest since the last time there was something bigger

That would be great...I don't know if 10 female albums debuted at 1M but it would be nice to see the top 10...meaning some that debut close to 1M as well.

I think that this will be it for awhile.

Congrats to Gaga for accomplishing it, though.

I don't see Gaga or Taylor getting it again

I would have said Beyonce in February but now...IDK.

[musicrocks]

Jun 1, 2011 11:10:47 GMT -5 bibliotheque said:

Jun 1, 2011 10:34:55 GMT -5 musicrocks said:

Funny thing is that even without Gaga, there would still be a year-to-year increase :)

125.86 - 1.108 = 124.752

125.42 > 124.752

???

Edit: Oh you must mean the week-to-week comparisons

Yes haha. Sorry if it was confusing :)

[areyoureadytojump]

BTW is on sale at Best Buy this week for $9.99.

[ListenToItTwice]

Jun 1, 2011 14:02:21 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

BTW is on sale at Best Buy this week for $9.99.

Ugh that's so unfair

How dare she

[Deleted]

By request - top 10 sales weeks by "female driven" albums



1 6/3/2000 Oops...I Did It Again Britney Spears 1,319,193
2 6/11/2011 Born This Way Lady Gaga 1,108,000
3 1/9/1993 The Bodyguard Soundtrack 1,061,000
4 11/13/2010 Speak Now Taylor Swift 1,046,718
5 2/28/2004 Feels Like Home Norah Jones 1,022,149
6 12/7/2002 Up! Shania Twain 874,000
7 2/28/1998 Titanic Soundtrack 847,500
8 1993  The Bodyguard Soundtrack 831,000
9 9/14/2002 Home Dixie Chicks 779,828
10 1996  Daydream Mariah Carey 760,000

[areyoureadytojump]

new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/74371/week-ending-may-29-2011-albums-gaga-goes-on-sale/

Week Ending May 29, 2011. Albums: Gaga Goes On Sale
Posted Wed Jun 1, 2011 10:26am PDT by Paul Grein in Chart

Lady Gaga's Born This Way sold 1,108,000 copies in its first week, which is the biggest one-week sales tally since 50 Cent's The Massacre sold 1,141,000 copies in its first week in March 2005. Gaga's monster total is the second biggest one-week tally ever for an album by a female artist. It's topped only by Britney Spears' sophomore album Oops!...I Did It Again, which sold 1,319,000 copies in its first week in May 2000..

This is the 10th fattest one-week sales total in Nielsen/SoundScan history, which stretches back a little more than 20 years..

Digital accounted for 60% of the first-week sales for Born This Way. The album sold 662,000 digital copies, which smashes Coldplay's record for the greatest digital sales by an album in one week in history. Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends sold 288K digital copies in its first week in June 2008..

Born This Way is already the eighth best-selling album in digital history. Gaga has two of the all-time top 10. The Fame is #2, with digital sales to date of 961K. Taylor Swift is the only other artist with two of the all-time top 10 digital albums. Fearless is #6. Speak Now is #10..

The strong digital showing for Born This Way is no surprise given Amazon's price-busting 99-cent sale on the album on Monday and Thursday of last week. (Billboard estimates that that Amazon's 99-cent offering accounts for 440K of the 662K digital total.) Does selling the album for roughly the cost of a newspaper or a can of Coke diminish the achievement? It does, but then again, if people don't want something, you can't give it away..

Gaga's 2008 debut album, The Fame, took 35 weeks to sell as many copies as Born This Way sold in its first week. Her 2010 EP The Fame Monster took 28 weeks to hit this number. (Both of those albums move up the chart this week. The Fame leaps from #36 to #16, its highest ranking since August. The Fame Monster vaults from #179 to #87.).

Born This Way also debuts at #1 in Japan and the U.K. It's the sixth album since 2004 to reach #1 in the U.S., Japan and the U.K. It follows Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing, Linkin Park's Minutes To Midnight, Madonna's Hard Candy, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, and Michael Jackson's This Is It..

Born This Way is Gaga's second #1 album in the U.K. The Fame topped the U.K. chart for seven weeks. Born This Way sold 215K copies in the U.K. this week, which is the biggest first-week total of the year, according to the Official Charts Co. It's more than the rest of the top 10 combined..

Brad Paisley's This Is Country Music enters The Billboard 200 at #2. This is Paisley's third album to reach #2. It follows Time Well Wasted and American Saturday Night. The country superstar has yet to land a #1 album, but he is a patient man. He was nominated for Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Awards five years in a row and lost every time. He finally won in October on his sixth try..

This Is Country Music is #1 on Top Country Albums. It's Paisley's sixth #1 on that chart..

Adele's 21 slips to #3. The album has ranked in the top three for each of its first 14 weeks. This is the best showing by any album since Alicia Keys' As I Am ranked in the top three for each of its first 15 weeks in 2007-2008. Will Adele equal or surpass Keys' tally? Stay tuned..

21 sold 39,000 digital copies this week, which brings its digital total to 842,000. This enables it to pull ahead of Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends as the best-selling album in digital history by an act that hails from outside the U.S. Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More also pulls ahead of Viva La Vida in total sales this week. It sold 14K copies this week, which brings its total to 817K copies to date. Coldplay's album has sold 806K digital copies..

Glee: The Music: Season Two, Volume 6 debuts at #4. This is the 11th consecutive Glee album or EP to debut in the top 10. It's also #1 on the Soundtrack Albums chart, displacing Lemonade Mouth..

An eponymous album by the boy band collective NKOTBSB debuts at #7. New Kids on the Block had four top 10 albums from 1989 to 2008. Backstreet Boys had seven in a row from 1997 to 2009..

Scotty McCreery's "I Love You This Big," the first single by the Season 10 winner of American Idol, enters Hot Digital Songs at #3. Will it debut in the top 10 on the Hot 100? You'll find out when we post Chart Watch: Songs later today. In the meantime, I'll have more on McCreery and Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina after the top 10 list. Their Season 10 highlights collections both enter The Billboard 200 this week.

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

1. Lady Gaga, Born This Way, 1,108,000. This new entry is Gaga's fourth top 10 album, following The Fame, The Fame Monster and The Remix. Eight songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "The Edge Of Glory," which jumps from #14 to #4..

2. Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music, 153,000. This new entry is Paisley's sixth top 10 album in a row (discounting a 2006 Christmas album). "Old Alabama," featuring Alabama, drops from #59 to #68 on Hot Digital Songs..

3. Adele, 21, 126,000. The former #1 album drops to #3 in its 14th week. It has been in the top three the entire time. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Rolling In The Deep," which logs its fourth week at #1..

4. Glee Cast, Glee: The Music, Season Two, Volume 6, 80,000. This new entry is the 10th Glee volume to debut in the top five. Six songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Light Up The World," which debuts at #17..

5. Various Artists, Maybach Music Group Presents: Self Made, Vol. 1, 59,000. This new entry was spearheaded by three-time chart-topper Rick Ross..

6. Various Artists, Now 38, 45,000. The album drops from #3 to #6 in its fourth week. It has been in the top 10 the entire time. The album has sold 288K copies to date..

7. NKOTBSB, NKOTBSB, 40,000. This new entry is the fifth top 10 album for New Kids on the Block; the eighth for Backstreet Boys..

8. Foster The People, Torches, 33,000. This new entry is the act's debut album. An eponymous EP sold about 1K copies this year. "Pumped Up Kicks" drops from #69 to #73 on Hot Digital Songs..

9. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party, 33,000. The album drops from #4 to #9 in its 30th week. This is its eighth week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Dirt Road Anthem," which dips from #22 to #23..

10. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More, 25,000. The album drops from #5 to #10 in its 62nd week. This is its 19th week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "The Cave" drops from #89 to #104. "Little Lion Man" drops from #102 to #126..

Six albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Seether's Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray drops from #2 to #11, Beastie Boys' Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 drops from #6 to #14, The Lonely Island's Turtleneck & Chain drops from #7 to #27, Justin Bieber's Never Say Never: The Remixes drops from #8 to #23, Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues drops from #9 to #22 and Il Volo's Il Volo drops from #10 to #15..

Newly-crowned American Idol winner Scotty McCreery debuts at #12 with a digital-only set, Season 10 Performances. A same-titled set by runner-up Lauren Alaina bows at #42. If McCreery's debut album (due later this year) outsells Alaina's (which seems likely), this will be the first year in which the American Idol winner has outsold the runner-up since 2008, when David Cook bested David Archuleta both in the TV competition and in the album sales race..

The last two years, the debut album by the runner-up has outsold the debut album by the winner. Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment has sold 817K copies, more than twice as many copies as winner Kris Allen's Kris Allen (328K). Season 9 runner-up Crystal Bowersox's The Farmer's Daughter has sold 197K, substantially more than winner Lee DeWyze's Live It Up (141K). These numbers for Allen, Bowersox and DeWyze are dismal, given Idol's high ratings. Even Lambert's tally is lower than you would expect for someone who created such a stir. Let's hope McCreery and Alaina ring up bigger numbers when their debut albums are released later this year. The fact that these instant collections are charting so high is a positive sign..

Journey's Eclipse debuts at #13. The album is a Walmart exclusive, as was the band's last release, 2008's Revelation. Eclipse is the band's 20th album to crack The Billboard 200. But here's the odd part: Twelve of those albums have had one-word titles. The band's first album, in 1975, was titled Journey. Their album titles didn't get much wordier after that. They include Next, Infinity, Evolution, Departure, Captured, Escape, Frontiers, Arrival, Generations and Revelation. I guess the band likes to keep it simple..

Adele's 2008 album 19 dips from #16 to #21. It's #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the 13th time in the past 15 weeks...Country Strong drops from #66 to #71. Even with that tepid ranking, it's the top-ranking soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie for the 13th week..

The Hangover Part II was #1 at the box-office over the weekend. The original The Hangover was #1 for two weekends in June 2009. The soundtrack to Part II enters The Billboard 200 at #129. It features tracks by such acts as Danzig and Kanye West, as well as co-star Ed Helms signing Billy Joel's "Allentown" and cameo player Mike Tyson singing Murray Head's "One Night In Bangkok.".

AC/DC's Live At River Plate is #1 on the Music Videos chart for the third week in a row. The video sold 6K copies this week, bringing its total to 33K. It's already #6 for the year to date..

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron, the singer and poet who, many said, set the template for rap, died last week. Scott-Heron teamed with Brian Jackson for a series of albums, including The First Minute Of A New Day, which cracked the top 30 in 1975. Scott-Heron also appeared on two high-profile protest albums: 1979's No Nukes/The MUSE Concerts For A Non-Nuclear Future and 1985's Sun City by a collective of artists dubbed Artists United Against Apartheid. Scott-Heron was 62..

Coming Attractions: Death Cab for Cutie's Codes And Keys is expected to be next week's top new entry. Eddie Vedder will also debut next week with his first solo studio album, Ukulele Songs, and his music video, Water On The Road: Eddie Vedder Live. Also due: My Morning Jacket's Circuital, Flogging Molly's Speed Of Darkness and Jordan Knight's Unfinished..

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Jun 1, 2011 13:31:04 GMT -5 Honeymoon said:

GAGA VS. SWIFT: More fun chart factoids. Last October, when Taylor Swift’s Speak Now sold 1.044 million copies, her total represented 18% of all albums sold that week. Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which sold approximately 60k more than Swift did, represents 16.5% of the total albums sold this week. While it may not seem like a big difference, it could be a sign that the overall album market is strengthening, a fact underscored since the Swift album was released in the always-bustling Q4 last year. (6/1p)

I have a funny feeling that these numbers are going to be quoted and used in annoying and pointless discussions many times over the weeks and months to come, as well as a new obsession in albums selling a certain % of albums in a week.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Jun 1, 2011 9:01:43 GMT -5 HolidayGuy said:

An article more focused on Amazon (headline a little misleading- it's not like Amazon alone brought in 1 million sales);
beta.news.yahoo.com/amazons-gamble-gives-lady-gaga-1m-album-sales-011400879.html

Amazon's gamble gives Lady Gaga 1M in album sales
APAP – Wed, Jun 1, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga sold more than 1.1 million copies of her new album "Born This Way" and set a digital sales record last week — with an assist from Amazon.com.

Billboard announced Tuesday that "Born This Way" debuted at No. 1 on its Billboard 200 album chart, becoming just the 17th album to sell a million copies in its first week since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991 and the top-selling digital debut.

The dance pop provocateur is just the fifth female with a an album that sold more than a million copies in the SoundScan era.

Lady Gaga's first No. 1 album sold the most copies of any debut since March 2005 when 50 Cent's "The Massacre" sold 1.14 million. The last million-selling album was Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" in November.

Amazon's attention-grabbing download price of 99 cents last Tuesday and Thursday helped drive "Born This Way" to an unprecedented 662,000 in digital sales, pushing the album to nearly three times initial estimates by Universal Music Group. Amazon sold more than 440,000 of those copies alone, but with mixed results.

The online retailer did grab the spotlight it had hoped in its battle for a larger piece of the online market, which is dominated by Apple's iTunes. But it came with an image hit when customers overwhelmed Amazon's system.

Amazon's move has been deemed controversial by some observers who say the steep loss of several dollars an album was not worth the investment. Physical outlets also were upset at the advantage given to an online retailer.

Dramatic price cuts are nothing new for Amazon, which regularly trims new and popular album prices to as low as $2.99 through its daily deal program.

Meaning many albums have gotten lower prices from amazon and people are acting all funny like they've never done it for anyone before.... at a rate of 3 bucks there is very little price elasticity when compared with 1 buck.