Billboard 200 01/16/10 - SuBo 150 - 165 k

[beebee]

As the new year is ushered in, it's looking like Susan Boyle will celebrate a sixth straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 next week, as industry prognosticators project her "I Dreamed a Dream" album may sell about 150,000 to 165,000 copies by week's end on Sunday (Jan. 3) night.

As we've been reporting, Boyle's "Dream" has been swiftly catching up to Taylor Swift's "Fearless," which is currently the top selling album of 2009. Now, with one week left to go, it's looking like "Dream" may fall just a bit short in the race.

Presently, "Fearless'" 2009 total stands at 3,157,000, while "Dream" is at 2,982,000.

With "Fearless" projected to sell in the neighborhood of 65,000 to 75,000 this week, it looks like Boyle's "Dream" will not close the gap between the two, and "Fearless" will remain the year's top seller.

If "Dream" sells its projected amount this week, the year will close with two albums -- "Dream" and "Fearless" -- having sold at least 3 million. The last time that happened was in 2006, when three sets managed the trick: the soundtrack to "High School Musical" (3.7 million), Rascal Flatts' "Me and My Gang" (3.5 million) and Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts" (3.0 million).

2006 did not benefit from having a 53-week sales tracking year, as we do in 2009, thanks to a quirk in the calendar. Without the so-called extra week in 2009, we'd only have one 3-million seller: "Fearless."

"Dream" is the only album that looks like it will sell over 100,000 in the week the closes on Jan. 3. The runner-up on the Billboard 200 may end up being Lady Gaga's "The Fame," which could shift perhaps 90,000 to 95,000 copies. If "The Fame" can rise to No. 2 on the chart, it will be a new peak for the long-running album, which has gone as high as No. 4 on the tally.

No major album releases came to market this past week, so don't count on any eye-popping debuts on next week's chart.

Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week, as reflected in Billboard's sales charts, runs from Monday through Sunday of each week. Next week's album charts will be revealed on Wednesday, Jan. 6 and will reflect data through the week ending Sunday, Jan. 3.

www.billboard.com/#/news/susan-boyle-vs-taylor-swift-nailbiter-for-1004056142.story

[galvanize]

Aw drat, I was hoping for Susan to snatch TayTay's wig.

Hopefully Fearless drops to about 50-55K in sales. Either way, those are actually decent sales for January. However, that's all going to change by the week after.

[Legoman]

OMFG at Gaga!!! *fingers, toes, heads, ass crossed*

[neverduplicated]

Surprised that Gaga might end up at number 2, but definitely not complaining. Granted they both had rereleases, I am amazed at the longevity of The Fame and especially Fearless. I wonder how long those two will be hovering around the top of the chart. Looks like Mary will probably take a huge dive down the chart and will have to settle for about half a million copies. Her record label was really smart to release the week or Christmas or else she probably would have had a Mariah-like struggle to get half a million.

[jink]

SuGa snatching them wigs

[bibliotheque]

YES YES YES

[Joe1240]

Yes Taylor stays at #1!

[HolidayGuy]

SuBo is experiencing the typical second-week plunge in her 6th week. :)

Great for Gaga if The Fame can reach a new peak.

[worldofrihannacom]

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[realityBITES]

Congrats to Taylor. Next week is gonna be ugly.

[S. Carter]

WOW!

[slw84]

Jan 1, 2010 4:00:38 GMT -5 @galvanize said:

Aw drat, I was hoping for Susan to snatch TayTay's wig.

Hopefully Fearless drops to about 50-55K in sales. Either way, those are actually decent sales for January. However, that's all going to change by the week after.

This works out perfectly.
Taylor still is the supreme star. Gaga gets a new peak. Great.

[Push The Button]

As I predicted, there was no way Susan was going to close the gap when she took such a hit before Christmas. Ah well. Still made for some exciting chart weeks!

[Stephen]

I forgot how awful January sales are.

[chopped89]

so the top 3 are girls!!wow, guys really need to get there love back!!

[Love Plastic Love]

I forgot how ugly the drops are as well. Oh well-it was a fun CHristmas sales season.

[areyoureadytojump]

Jan 1, 2010 13:28:47 GMT -5 Stephen said:

I forgot how awful January sales are.

It's only going to get worse this year.

[Honeymoon]

Jan 1, 2010 13:28:47 GMT -5 Stephen said:

I forgot how awful January sales are.

Usually the past couple years it's been like 80-100k this time of year so SuBo still selling over 150k is at least decent.

[musicrocks]

Doesn't anyone know what the sales were this week last year?

[bibliotheque]

^ 1/17/09

1 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 89,607 -66 262,399 2,201,786
2 BEYONCE I AM...SASHA FIERCE 76,938 -64 210,918 1,535,791
3 WEST*KANYE 808S & HEARTBREAK 70,932 -57 165,117 1,094,859
4 TWILIGHT SOUNDTRACK 65,827 -56 148,157 1,193,366
5 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 64,385 -64 177,297 1,229,650
6 SPEARS*BRITNEY CIRCUS 64,060 -68 202,841 1,168,403
7 COLE*KEYSHIA DIFFERENT ME 53,627 -58 126,506 502,218
8 FOXX*JAMIE INTUITION 44,638 -57 104,506 414,506
9 VARIOUS NOW 29 43,538 -64 121,693 940,732
10 VARIOUS ALL WRAPPED UP 40,445 112 19,044 193,106

pulsemusic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gmn&action=display&thread=80721

[musicjunky318]

No Alicia mentioned? I guess #2 will really be her peak.

[musicrocks]

Thanks!

[Tanisha Thomas.]

Why does January have such a big drop in sales? Shouldn't sales be a little stronger than this right after Christmas? Aren't there after the holiday deals or something? Whatever the case may be, these sales are dismal. But I'm glad SuBo's reign is almost over. lol

[badrobot]

These are better #1 post-Christmas sales than the past 3 years, which were all under 125k. Last year was under 100k.

Interesting for Gaga. Wonder if she even has a shot at #1 later in January?

This also makes me wonder if maybe Bad Romance will end up performing better than expected.

[Love Plastic Love]

I think Bad Romance has already performed better than expected considering some of the shrieking when it didn't sell that well first week and didn't hit top 10 in a week on the pop chart. It definitely is a huge hit and helping sales though-I am really surprised she is expected to flirt with 100K this week. Of course, they could be over-predicting.

[badrobot]

For BR, I meant that many have thought #2 is its peak on the Hot 100 since Kesha jumped over her. It'd be interesting if it could sneak past and get #1 after all.

Vaguely reminds me of Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right." It seemed like it had peaked at #6, and fell to #10 around Christmas I think, but rebounded and 6 weeks later hit #1.

[Young Money]

Glad Taylor is the #1 album. Susan is a disgusting thing. lol ewww :)

Nice that GaGa will get a new peak. I hope she can hit #1. I think she might be able to squeeze a week in Jan!! :)

[fridayteenage]

I wonder if Taylor can stay T10 for another whole month. Hopefully.

Some albums: Kesha, Leighton Meester, and...looks like a decent chance to have the 3rd-most weeks in BB200 since 1990.

[Choco]

I hope GaGa gets her new peak. A #1 album would be amazing, but it already did great.
And good to see that SuBo might not snatch Taylor's wig. It's still pulling amazing numbers for this particular week, but I wanted Fearless to get the AOTY in Soundscan too.

[survivorqt]

ecstatic MJB was blocked from #1