Billboard 200: 6/30/12: Usher #1:128k

[areyoureadytojump]

They don't even mention Usher.

www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.20162/title.hip-hop-album-sales-the-week-ending-6-17-2012

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 6/17/2012

#10. Waka Flocka Flame - Triple F Life: Fans, Friends & Family - 33,000 (33,000)

#20. Kid Ink - Up & Away - 20,000 (20,000)

#29. Big K.R.I.T. - Live From The Underground - 12,000 (53,000)

#31. Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - 12,000 (534,000)

#51. Drake - Take Care - 8,900 (1,779,000)

#56. Curren$y - The Stoned Immaculate - 8,200 (44,000)

#66. B.o.B. - Strange Clouds - 7,300 (156,000)

#73. Tech N9ne Presents... Stevie Stone - Rollin' Stone - 6,600 (6,600)

#96. Tyga - Careless World: Rise Of The Last King - 5,000 (249,000)

#156. Travis Porter - From Day 1 - 3,100 (23,000)

* data comes from Nielsen Soundscan, rounded to nearest thousandth for units above 10,000, nearest hundredth for units below 10,000. Each week, HipHopDX presents top albums in Hip Hop/related, and five notables.

[jgizzle89]

That is telling. Hip Hop DX generally mentions R & B artists. I guess the hip-hop/R&B fans have turned on poor Usher. HE GAVE YOU CONFESSIONS PEOPLE!

[Au$tin]

They ban Usher, but keep Tyga?




Ew.

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.com/news#/news/usher-finds-fourth-no-1-album-on-billboard-1007371352.story

I can't copy and paste the article. Can someone do it for me? Thanks.

[Fresh]

Usher secures his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as "Looking 4 Myself" debuts atop the list with 128,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The pop/R&B star's last full-length studio album, 2010's "Raymond v Raymond," also launched at No. 1, but with bigger sales. It started with 329,000. "Looking" also registers Usher's smallest first-week sales for a regular studio album since 1997's "My Way" bowed with 67,000.

The new album was ushered in by its lead single "Climax," which is in its ninth straight week at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Of Usher's 12 No. 1s on the R&B/Hip-Hop tally, only one has spent more weeks at No. 1: "You Make Me Wanna . . ." (with 11).

On the pop side of things, "Looking 4 Myself's" top 40-focused single "Scream" rises 11-10 on the Pop Songs airplay chart. It regains its No. 10 peak, having slipped 11-10 last week. On the all-format Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Scream" slipped 13-14 last week (though it was still gaining in points). The new Hot 100 will be compiled today (June 20).

At No. 2 on the Billboard 200, rock band Rush clocks its best sales week in 10 years as "Clockwork Angels" debuts with 103,000. The group last sold more when 2002's "Vapor Trails" bowed at No. 6 with 110,000. "Clockwork Angels" is Rush's second album to hit No. 2 following 1993's "Counterparts." A No. 1 album continues to elude the act.

Adele's "21," which hit a 24th week at No. 1 last week, falls to No. 3 with 63,000 (down 16%).

Country star Josh Turner debuts at No. 4 with "Punching Bag," selling 45,000 copies in its first week. It's his fourth top 10 set on the Billboard 200 and the 11th country album to bow in the top 10 this year. A year ago at this point, only six country sets had started in the top 10.

Over on the Top Country Albums chart, "Punching Bag" is his second No. 1. His first came with 2006's "Your Man." Turner's last studio album, 2010's "Haywire," bowed at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on Country Albums with 85,000.

British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran takes a bow at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with his first full-length album, "+." The set starts with 42,000 and also debuts at No. 1 on the Folk Albums chart. Seventy-nine percent of its first-week sales were digital downloads. That's not too surprising, as the act got a lot of love from the iTunes Store last week. The retailer offered the song "The A Team" as its Free Single of the Week and promoted it on the Store's front page.

"+" has been a smash in Sheeran's homeland, where it debuted at No. 1 in late 2011 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and currently sits at No. 7 in its 40th week on the list.

Sheeran's arrival is the highest debut for a U.K. solo artist's first full-length album since Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" bowed at No. 1 on Dec, 12, 2009. The last U.K. male to bow higher with their first full-length was Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) on July 29, 2006 with "The Eraser." It debuted at No. 2.

One Direction's "Up All Night" holds at No. 6 (39,000; down 1%), Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Americana" moves 4-7 (37,000; down 15%) and Alan Jackson's "Thirty Miles West" falls 2-8 (just under 37,000; down 50%). The "Rock of Ages" soundtrack zooms 15-9 in its second week (36,000; up 101%) following the film's bow in U.S. theaters on June 15.

Waka Flocka Flame's "Triple F Life" rounds out the top 10, as it debuts at No. 10 with 33,000. It's the rapper's second studio album and it boasts guests Drake, Trey Songz and Nicki Minaj. Waka Flocka Flame's first set, "Flockaveli," debuted and peaked at No. 6 in 2010 on the Billboard 200 off a 37,000 start.

Over on the Digital Songs chart, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" stays steady at No. 1, selling 292,000 downloads (down 1%) while Maroon 5's "Payphone" is also a non-mover at No. 2. It sold 230,000 last week (down 2%).

Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" jumps 4-3 with 198,000 (up 14%) while Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" slips 3-4 with 195,000 (down 8%).

Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me" (not a cover of the Backstreet Boys) debuts at No. 5 with 168,000.

Pitbull's "Back in Time" is stationary at No. 6 with 125,000 (down 5%), Usher's "Scream" sizzles 16-7 with 123,000 (up 28%) and Rihanna's "Where Have You Been" drops 7-8 with 122,000 (down 7%).

Ellie Goulding's "Lights" hits the top 10 for the first time, ascending 12-9 with 121,000 (up 14%) while One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" closes out the top 10, falling two rungs to No. 10. It sold 118,000 (down 6%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending June 17) totaled 5.81 million units, up 10% compared with the sum last week (5.26 million) and down 8% compared with the comparable sales week of 2011 (6.30 million).
Year-to-date album sales stand at 138.77 million, down 3% compared with the same total at this point last year (143.20 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 25.38 million downloads, up less than 1% compared with last week (25.32 million) and up 1% stacked next to the comparable week of 2011 (25.11 million). Year-to-date track
sales are at 647.57 million, up 6% compared with the same total at this point last year (610.06 million).

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2011 when: Jill Scott's "The Light of the Sun" bowed at No. 1 with 135,000 and Bon Iver's self-titled set started at No. 2 with 104,000. The previous week's No. 1,
Bad Meets Evil's "Hell: The Sequel," fell to No. 6 with 63,000 (down 63%).

[ListenToItTwice]

By Paul Grein | Chart Watch – 1 hour 4 minutes ago

Usher's Looking 4 Myself debuts at #1, but with sales of just 128K. That's a sharp drop from Usher's last full-length studio album, Raymond V. Raymond, which opened with sales of 329K in April 2010. This is the lowest first-week tally for a regular Usher studio album since My Way started with sales of 67K in September 1997.

Everybody knows that sales aren't what they were in 2004, when Usher's Confessions sold 1,096,000 copies in its first week. But even compared to 2012 albums, this is a disappointing debut. Twelve albums have enjoyed greater first-week sales so far this year. And Justin Bieber's newly-released Believe is expected to sell in the 400K to 500K range this week. (It will debut at #1 next week.)

So, what's the problem? Looking 4 Myself has yet to produce a top 10 hit on the Hot 100. The current pop-dance track "Scream" has climbed as high as #13. The previous, more R&B-oriented "Climax" peaked at #17. ("Climax" has spent the past nine weeks at #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.)

Despite the lackluster sales tally, this is Usher's fourth album to reach #1. Usher is only the fourth male R&B artist to amass four or more #1 albums. He follows Michael Jackson and R. Kelly, who lead with six each, and Prince, who has also had four.

Rush's Clockwork Angels debuts at #2. It's the Canadian band's 12th top 10 album. But here's the rub: Rush has never had a #1 album. In fact, this album puts the band in a tie with 1960s instrumentalist Ray Conniff ("Somewhere, My Love") for the most top 10 albums without a #1. But there's a key difference: Conniff amassed all 12 of his top 10 albums in the space of eight years, from 1958 to 1966. Rush's top 10 albums span 32 years. The band first cracked the top 10 in February 1980 with Permanent Waves.

(In case you're wondering, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and James Taylor are in second place. They have each amassed 11 top 10 albums without a #1.)

Clockwork Angels is Rush's second album to climb as high as #2. The band first reached the runner-up slot in October 1993 with Counterparts. It was blocked from the top spot by Pearl Jam's Vs.

Josh Turner's Punching Bag debuts at #4. It's the country star's fourth top five album. This is Turner's highest-charting album since Your Man debuted and peaked at #2 in January 2006. Punching Bag enters Top Country Albums at #1, displacing Alan Jackson's Thirty Miles West. It's Turner's second #1 country album, again following Your Man. (Scotty McCreery performed "Your Man" en route to his victory on American Idol in 2011.) Turner's current single, "Time Is Love," is up to #14 on Hot Country Songs. It's his 11th top 20 country hit.

Ed Sheeran's + debuts at #5. It's the first full-length studio album by Sheeran, who won two Brit Awards in his native U.K. earlier this year: Best British Male Solo Artist and Best British Breakthrough Act. The album hit #1 in the U.K. in September and returned to the top spot in January.

+ is one of the shortest titles to a top 10 album in history. Others that consist of just a single keystroke include the Beatles' 1, Foreigner's 4, Beyonce's 4, INXX's X and Omarion's O. (If you're wondering about R. Kelly's R., it had a period. Two keystrokes.)

One Direction's Up All Night holds at #6. It surpasses Whitney Houston's Whitney: The Greatest Hits to become the #3 best-seller so far this year. In addition, the boy band's DVD, Up All Night: The Live Tour, is #1 for the third week on Top Music Videos. It sold 25,000 copies this week, bringing its three-week total to 138K.

The Rock Of Ages soundtrack jumps from #15 to #9 in its second week. The movie is based on the 2009 Broadway show. This is the first soundtrack from a movie adaptation of a Broadway show to crack the top 10 since Mamma Mia! hit #1 in 2008. That was built around Abba songs, mostly from the 1970s. This is a celebration of 1980s rock. Rock Of Ages is #1 on Top Soundtracks for the second week. The movie got off to a disappointing start. It was #3 at the box-office over the weekend.

Tom Cruise sings eight of the 20 songs on the soundtrack, either by himself or with co-stars. (Cruise also sang in Top Gun, but he wasn't featured on the soundtrack.) Incidentally, this is the fourth soundtrack to a movie in which Cruise starred to make the top 10. It follows Top Gun (#1 in 1986), Cocktail (#2 in 1989) and Mission: Impossible 2 (#2 in 2000). (The soundtrack to Cruise's first movie, Endless Love, reached #9 in 1981, but he wasn't the movie's star. The male lead was played by one Martin Hewitt.)

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" holds at #1 on Hot Digital Songs for the fifth straight week. Only one other song has had as many weeks at #1 so far this year. That's "We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monae, which was the top-seller for seven weeks. Will "Call Me Maybe" hold at #1 on the Hot 100? Probably, but you'll find out for sure later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.

Pop Quiz: Three albums in this week's top 10 share titles with previous top 10 albums. Name them. Answer below the top 10 list.

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

The Top Five: Usher's Looking 4 Myself debuts at #1 (128K). It's Usher's seventh top 10 album; his fourth to reach #1. The album sold 50K digital copies, which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums…Rush's Clockwork Angels debuts at #2 (103K). It's the band's 12th top 10 album…Adele's 21 drops from #1 to #3 in its 69th week (63K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time… Josh Turner's Punching Bag debuts at #4 (45K). It's the country star's fourth top five album…Ed Sheeran's + debuts at #5 (42K). It's Sheeran's first top 10 album.

The Second Five: One Direction's Up All Night holds at #6 in its 13th week (39K). The former #1 album has been in the top 10 the entire time… Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana drops from #4 to #7 in its second week (37K)… Alan Jackson's Thirty Miles West drops from #2 to #8 in its second week (37K)…The Rock Of Ages soundtrack jumps from #15 to #9 in its second week (36K)…Waka Flocka Flame's Triple F Life: Fans, Friends & Family debuts at #10 (33K). It's the rapper's second top 10 album. Flockaveli hit #6 in October 2010.

Quiz Answer: The recycled album titles in this week's top 10 are Adele's 21 (Omarion, #1 in 2006), Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana (The Offspring, #2 in 1999) and the Rock Of Ages soundtrack (The Band, #6 in 1972).

Six albums drop out of the top 10 this week. The Beach Boys' That's Why God Made The Radio drops from #3 to #14, Big K.R.I.T's Live From The Underground dives from #5 to #31, John Mayer's Born And Raised drops from #7 to #11, Curren$y's The Stoned Immaculate plummets from #8 to #60, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away dips from #9 to #16 and Brandi Carlile's Bear Creek plummets from #10 to #51.

Metric's Synthetica debuts at #12. This is the alternative band's highest-charting album to date. Fantasies hit #76 in 2009…Now Country 5 debuts at #15. Four of the five Now Country volumes have made the top 20… Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' The Lion The Beast The Beat debuts at #17. It's the group's second top 20 album in a row. An eponymous album reached #19 in June 2010…Kid Ink's Up & Away debuts at #20. It's the rapper's debut album. I can't resist pointing out that The 5th Dimension had a top 10 album titled Up, Up And Away in August 1967.

Jimmy Fallon's Blow Your Pants Off debuts at #25 (far lower, I must admit, than I initially expected). It's Fallon's second chart album. His first, The Bathroom Wall, reached #47 in 2002. The new album features such high-powered guests as Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney, Eddie Vedder, Dave Matthews and Bruce Springsteen.

Fallon, who has hosted Late Night With Jimmy Fallon since 2009, is the third host of an NBC late night show to crack the top 30. Steve Allen, the original host of The Tonight Show, reached #7 with Music For Tonight in May 1955, eight months after the show debuted. The album consisted of instrumental music. (The versatile Allen was a composer and musician as well as a comedian.) Johnny Carson, who hosted The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, was represented with a compilation, Magic Moments From The Tonight Show—Here's Johnny. The double-disk album, which consisted of music and comedy highlights from the show, reached #30.

Journey's Greatest Hits, the best Father's Day gift since the invention of the tie, vaults from #117 to #28 in its 219th week on the chart. It returns to #1 on the Top Catalog Albums chart, displacing Adele's 19. This is its 10th week at #1 on the catalog chart, which it first topped in June 2007. The album was released in November 1988.

The Broadway cast album to Once debuts at #92 in the first full week after the show won a Tony as Best Musical. The movie soundtrack peaked at #7 in March 2008 (after "Falling Slowly" won an Oscar as Best Song). Nine of the past 20 Tony winners for Best Musical are shows that were adapted or otherwise derived from movies. Once follows 1993's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, 1995's Sunset Boulevard, 1998's The Lion King, 2001's The Producers, The New Mel Brooks Musical, 2002's Thoroughly Modern Millie, 2003's Hairspray, 2005's Monty Python's Spamalot and 2009's Billy Elliott: The Musical.

Madonna's Celebration re-enters the chart at #132 in the wake of Madonna flashing her breast at a show in Istanbul. Personally, I thought it made Madonna seem a little desperate for attention…Bobby Womack's The Bravest Man In The Universe bows at #181. The soul legend first charted in 1968 with Fly Me To The Moon.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted was #1 at the box-office for the second straight weekend. The soundtrack jumps from #185 to #162 in its second week.

Coming Attractions: Justin Bieber's Believe is a lock to debut at #1 next week. Also due: Kenny Chesney's Welcome To The Fishbowl, Smashing Pumpkins' Oceania, Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel Is Wiser, Walk The Moon's Walk The Moon and Glen Hansard's Rhythm & Repose.
Pagination

[badrobot]

^Madonna's "Celebration" re-enters because it was on sale at Amazon for $2.99, not because of a nipple shot.

[Verisimilitude]

Jun 20, 2012 11:38:55 GMT -5 badrobot said:

^Madonna's "Celebration" re-enters because it was on sale at Amazon for $2.99, not because of a nipple shot.

Regular Amazon customer - "I feel inspired to buy Madonna's album because I saw her t*t!" That's logical, Paul Grein.

[moore746]

How telling that John Mayer - with ZERO radio support and no singing-related promotion - debuts to 220k a few weeks ago and Usher debuts to THIS.

[Deleted]

Jun 20, 2012 11:46:21 GMT -5 moore746 said:

How telling that John Mayer - with ZERO radio support and no singing-related promotion - debuts to 220k a few weeks ago and Usher debuts to THIS.

John hasn't made his fans feel betrayed. They know what to expect from him.

[Enigma.]

Carrie is not doing very well.

Yay for Neil Young, huge sales for his standards.

"Madonna's Celebration re-enters the chart at #132 in the wake of Madonna flashing her breast at a show in Istanbul."

LOL yea this must be the reason why...

[Deleted]

The "exposure" certainly helped Madonna's sales, it definitely did not hurt it.

[vantiboy3]

Nipples don't sell albums honey! I don't care how old those pom-poms are (53 years?????), THEY_DO_NOT_SELL_ALBUMS!

No offense your Madge-sty

[vantiboy3]

And on another note, Usher's fall is just heartbreaking!

Imma need some rerelease or EP consolation for this one Ush!

[Deleted]

News exposure sells albums, it has been on the lower portions of the top 200 catalog chart recently with 2000 copies last chart and is now Madonna's top selling album of the week.

The rise seems to tie to the exposure

[HolidayGuy]

Celebration was sale-priced at Amazon mp3, so that definitely boosted sales. In recent weeks, it's also been $9.99 or so at Best Buy, which helped propel it into the top 100 of the catalog top 200 albums chart last week. Did the "exposure" hurt? Perhaps not- but the sale pricing probably was a bigger factor.

[vantiboy3]

Jun 20, 2012 12:08:44 GMT -5 @2m said:

News exposure sells albums, it has been on the lower portions of the top 200 catalog chart recently with 2000 copies last chart and is now Madonna's top selling album of the week.

The rise seems to tie to the exposure

Well, i'll be damned if a Tit-tay is gonna talk me into buying an album. Jesus must really be on his way than.

[meuirmao]

Whether or not it increased her sales, I agree with this:

Jun 20, 2012 11:18:56 GMT -5 ListenToItTwice said:

By Paul Grein | it made Madonna seem a little desperate for attention…

[vantiboy3]

Jun 20, 2012 12:14:40 GMT -5 meuirmao said:

Whether or not it increased her sales, I agree with this:

Jun 20, 2012 11:18:56 GMT -5 ListenToItTwice said:

By Paul Grein | it made Madonna seem a little desperate for attention…

I think the tit-tays were the desperate ones. Popping out all the way in Istanbull and directing people to the shops to buy Madonna's album. Not just any album. CELEBRATION, the one that was discounted.

Only on Pulse.

[HolidayGuy]

^Yes- and "Human Nature" (during which she quickly flashed her nip and is about confronting an oppressor- fitting move in a country where a number of women still feel oppressed) doesn't even appear on any version of Celebration.

No word on whether MDNA's sales increased, though it didn't re-enter the overall BB 200 (Grein would have been mentioned it, I imagine).

[oinapead]

Yeee the freedom of speech and showing your .... is still there somewhere. Madonna is doing everything what we should expect her to do. Let's not pretend she is a person with deeper understanding. She has always been like this and I guess the world should really understand her message... before she gets really old. Anyway it's a good day to have a good laugh.

[vantiboy3]

Jun 20, 2012 13:40:02 GMT -5 oinapead said:

Yeee the freedom of speech and showing your .... is still there somewhere. Madonna is doing everything what we should expect her to do. Let's not pretend she is a person with deeper understanding. She has always been like this and I guess the world should really understand her message... before she gets really old. Anyway it's a good day to have a good laugh.

That's all good and well. But we never knew her tit-tays had it in them!
Those reclusive mutha f***rs! Speaking to the people and all.
Oh hell to the no!

[Enigma.]

Is the problem with Madge being over 50 or what.. I don't get it. If RiRi couldn't keep her clothes on (well she can't but her nipples have been more shy than Madge's) would anyone have a problem with it?

[Rodze]

Jun 20, 2012 11:47:49 GMT -5 Enigma. said:

Carrie is not doing very well.

The album went down many spots, but sales went from 27k to 24k. Not a big drop, just a more competitive chart.

In fact, when was the last time the no. 20 sold 20k? (probably two weeks ago haha)

[Enigma.]

You're right, should've paid attention to that

But I still think it won't pass platinum very easily, still at least 500k to go.

[vantiboy3]

Jun 20, 2012 13:55:17 GMT -5 Enigma. said:

Is the problem with Madge being over 50 or what.. I don't get it. If RiRi couldn't keep her clothes on (well she can't but her nipples have been more shy than Madge's) would anyone have a problem with it?

No. The problem lies with the fact that people seem to think the music buying public are so shallow that a pair of royal tit-tays will miraculously entice people to buy a certain album. An album that was DISCOUNTED, mind you, for the sole reason to sell the album. How do you think the Discount feels? That some tit-tays all the way from Istanbul sweeps in and takes all the shine for the album selling.
How should the discount feel?

Oh, and please. RiRi's tit-tay could NEVER!

[Deleted]

In other news, this is week 69 in the top 10 for Adele. 3 weeks shy of the record for female solo acts

[vantiboy3]

Wow. Go Adele! The sales of Adele's album is just legendary! (and she did it without the involvement of her British tit-tays.)

[areyoureadytojump]

With this week's sales, Usher should pass the 10 million scanned mark next week.

[asg4]

Jun 20, 2012 12:08:44 GMT -5 @2m said:

News exposure sells albums, it has been on the lower portions of the top 200 catalog chart recently with 2000 copies last chart and is now Madonna's top selling album of the week.

The rise seems to tie to the exposure

This would have been more successful if it had been done at the superbowl not some tiny show in turkey