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

[Black Jesus]

Jan 6, 2010 11:44:45 GMT -5 Baby In a New Dress said:

Wow. Looks like this will be the first MJB album not to reach platinum status. With her age and the sales climate, it was only a matter of time, wasn't it? :(

It's only been out a few weeks and its already sold 400k...

[worldofrihannacom]

WTF at MTV announcing this earlier than Billboard?

www.mtv.com/news/articles/1629127/20100106/lady_gaga.jhtml

It's becoming clear that you can't stop Susan Boyle, you can only hope to contain her. Actually, nobody has even been able to do that yet. The "Britain's Got Talent" star will hold onto the top spot on the Billboard 200 charts for an amazing sixth week in a row, thanks to another 137,000 units shifted, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. And while her sales over the New Year's week dipped by more than 70 percent, Boyle still managed to steam past the 3 million mark in just six weeks.

With no other new releases dropping in the last week of 2009, the rest of the top 10 consisted of the usual suspects, all of whom took serious double-digit hits as consumers appeared to snuggle up and avoid the post-Christmas sales. Lady Gaga's equally indomitable Fame moves up four spots to #2 on sales of 82,000, followed by Alicia Keys' The Element of Freedom, which shed 71 percent of the previous week's business while converting another 80,000 fans.

The rest of the top 10: Mary J. Blige's Stronger (#4, 62,000, down 81 percent in week two), Taylor Swift's Fearless (#5, 60,000, down 73 percent), Justin Bieber's My World (#6, 52,000, down 67 percent), the soundtrack to "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel," (#7, 51,000, down 43 percent), Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) (#8, 47,000, down 55 percent), Lady Gaga's Fame Monster EP (#9, 44,000, down 62 percent) and Owl City's Ocean Eyes (#10, 44,000, down 59 percent).

It wasn't just the top 10 that experienced major sales drops. In fact, the top 30 albums all had double-digit dips. One of the biggest drops was for the debut from Lil Wayne's Young Money crew, whose We Are Young Money drooped by 70 percent, falling three spots to 12 in its second week on sales of 43,000. Not surprisingly, given its $1 billion worldwide haul at the box office, the score to James Cameron's "Avatar" leaped 72 spots to #31 on sales of 18,000.

Things will likely stay put next week, as the only notable release this week is the debut from Ke$ha, Animal.

[bibliotheque]

They did it last week too. Wierd.

[musicrocks]

Jan 6, 2010 11:34:38 GMT -5 Rodze said:

I don't know if I should make the 3rd or 4th BB200 thread for this week...

I think we can put the chart news in this thread. This was the Hits thread and then someone created another one for the Hits Updates...but that doesn't matter lol. I think the title should be changed tho so no one else makes one

[bibliotheque]

SOUNDSCAN (WEEK ENDING 1/3/10)

1) Susan Boyle – I Dreamed A Dream – 136,566 (After 6 weeks – 3,103,828)
2) Lady Gaga – Fame – 82,148 (After 62 weeks – 2,387,666)
3) Alicia Keys – Element Of Freedom – 79,801 (After 3 weeks – 779,093)

[musicrocks]

www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/01/06/on-the-charts-boyle-sails-on-as-sales-begin-post-holiday-slide/

On the Charts: Boyle Sails On As Sales Begin Post-Holiday Slide

1/6/10, 11:56 am EST

The Big News: The holiday sales binge came to a loud and sudden halt last week as 24 of the Top 25 albums in the Billboard Top 200 experienced sales decreases of more than 50 percent. Susan Boyle’s record-breaking I Dreamed a Dream retained the Number One spot for a sixth consecutive week even as sales of her debut dropped 73 percent. Still, I Dreamed a Dream sold 137,000 copies last week according to Nielsen SoundScan, enough to push the Britain’s Got Talent sensation past the three million copies sold mark.

Sixty-two weeks after its release, Lady Gaga’s The Fame reached its highest point on the Top 200, coming in at Number Two thanks to 82,000 copies sold. Factor in the additional 44,000 copies the standalone The Fame Monster sold to end the week at Number Nine and Gaga nearly ended the reign of Boyle. A pair of albums by divas, Alicia Keys’ The Element of Freedom and Mary J. Blige’s Stronger With Each Tear, finished at Three and Four respectively in their second week on the charts. Taylor Swift’s Fearless rounded out the Top Five.

Debuts: The lone artist to hit the chart in the Top 200 was Straight No Chaser’s Six Pack EP down at 181, so let’s take a deeper look at the huge percentage drops in the upper tier. In the Top 35 of the Billboard 200, only three albums managed to avoid a 50 percent or greater sales drop, and fittingly all three were soundtracks: Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakuel at Seven, Nine at 26 and the Avatar score at 31. The week’s biggest loser: Andrea Bocelli’s My Christmas, the seasonal disc of choice in ‘09, experienced a mind-blowing 94 percent sales drop from the previous week. Still, Bocelli’s disc went double-platinum in its time riding Boyle’s coattails.

Last Week’s Heroes: I Dreamed a Dream ends 2009 and enters 2010 as the best-selling debut ever by a female artist in the SoundScan era and Boyle the first artist in the history of Billboard to debut and spend six consecutive weeks at Number One on the charts. Plus, 10 years from now, we’ll be noting that I Dreamed a Dream was the first Number One album of this new decade.

[Rodze]

Updated with: content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/01/album-sales-we-all-fall-down/1

1 BOYLE*SUSAN I DREAMED A DREAM 136566 3103828
2 LADY GAGA THE FAME 82148 2387666
3 KEYS*ALICIA ELEMENTS OF FREEDOM 79801 779093
4 MARY J. BLIGE STRONGER 62000 392000
5 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 60000 5329000
6 BIEBER*JUSTIN MY WORLD 52000 728000
7 VARIOUS ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKUEL 51000
8 BLACK EYED PEAS THE E.N.D. 47000
9 LADY GAGA THE FAME MONSTER EP 44200
10 OWL CITY OCEAN EYES 44100 653100

GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC, V 44000 429000
YOUNG MONEY WE ARE YOUNG MONEY 43000 185000
EMINEM RELAPSE 40000 1735000
VARIOUS NOW 32 35000 675000
UNDERWOOD*CARRIE PLAY ON 34000 1183000
GLEE CAST VOL. 1-GLEE: THE MUSIC 32000 642000
SOUNDTRACK AVATAR 18000
LAMBERT*ADAM FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT 17000 434000
DAUGHTRY LEAVE THIS TOWN 12000 882000
VARIOUS WOW HITS 2010 10000 155000
ALLEN*KRIS KRIS ALLEN 9000 228000
VARIOUS NOW 31 8000 850000
STEWART*ROD SOULBOOK 7000 328000
VARIOUS NOW COUNTRY V2 5000 219000
SOUNDTRACK HANNAH MONTANA 3 5000 559000
CLARKSON*KELLY ALL I EVER WANTED 5000 815000
UNDERWOOD*CARRIE CARNIVAL RIDE 4000 3045000
IRAHETA*ALLISON JUST LIKE YOU 4000 74000
UNDERWOOD*CARRIE SOME HEARTS 3000 6917000
PICKLER*KELLIE KELLIE PICKLER 3000 372000
VARIOUS NOW COUNTRY 1000 405000

[badrobot]

Jan 6, 2010 13:53:14 GMT -5 musicrocks said:

Dreamed a Dream ends 2009 and enters 2010 as the best-selling debut ever by a female artist in the SoundScan era.

I'm assuming they mean best-selling debut *week* ever, as it is still many, many millions of copies away from being the best-selling debut total.

[Rodze]

Jan 6, 2010 14:08:25 GMT -5 badrobot said:

Jan 6, 2010 13:53:14 GMT -5 musicrocks said:

Dreamed a Dream ends 2009 and enters 2010 as the best-selling debut ever by a female artist in the SoundScan era.

I'm assuming they mean best-selling debut *week* ever, as it is still many, many millions of copies away from being the best-selling debut total.

Maybe they mean fastest selling, as in no other female sold 3.1 million in 6 weeks with their debut.

Surely it will lose that title soon, though.

[kt1990]

Jan 6, 2010 13:53:38 GMT -5 Rodze said:

Updated with: content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/01/album-sales-we-all-fall-down/1

UNDERWOOD*CARRIE SOME HEARTS 3000 6197000

Isn't Some Hearts closing in on 7 million? I think those numbers are inaccurate...

[musicjunky318]

BOYLE-ING OVER: Susan Boyle’s runaway Syco/Columbia best seller, I Dreamed a Dream, has achieved R.I.A.A. certification for four times platinum shipments in 45 days, the fastest since the org instituted the multi-platinum category in 1984. The album has been #1 now six charts in a row, logging in another 131k this week, for a total of more than 3.1 million to date. And she's the only woman out there not sleeping with Tiger Woods. We think. (1/6p)

[Rodze]

Jan 6, 2010 14:36:43 GMT -5 @kt1990 said:

Jan 6, 2010 13:53:38 GMT -5 Rodze said:

Updated with: content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2010/01/album-sales-we-all-fall-down/1

UNDERWOOD*CARRIE SOME HEARTS 3000 6197000

Isn't Some Hearts closing in on 7 million? I think those numbers are inaccurate...

You're right. Should be 6917000. Must've been a typo by the article writer.

Thanks.

[fridayteenage]

Wow, Glee's soundtracks have sold over a million.

[Young Money]

BOYLE-ING OVER: Susan Boyle’s runaway Syco/Columbia best seller, I Dreamed a Dream, has achieved R.I.A.A. certification for four times platinum shipments in 45 days,

I don't get this...how is Susan the fastest 4x album? What about Eminem or NSYNC?

[kellybcfan98]

yay @ Kelly selling 815k!!

[Push The Button]

They weren't certified that quickly.

[Deleted]

Exactly. "Going platinum" is not the same thing as selling 1,000,000 copies. The latter can happen by itself, the former is a manual process. So it very well could be the Susan Boyle has the fastest 4x album in history

[Rodze]

www.billboard.com/#/news/susan-boyle-extends-run-atop-billboard-200-1004057211.story
Susan Boyle Extends Run Atop Billboard 200
January 06, 2010 - Retail

By Keith Caulfield, L.A.

In just six week since its release, Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" has racked up 3,104,000 in sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

However, that impressive feat was not enough to overtake Taylor Swift's "Fearless" as 2009's top selling album. The latter is at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 this week, selling another 60,000 -- bringing its 2009 total to 3,217,000.

As it turns out, four of the year's biggest selling albums also happen to feature in the current weekly Billboard 200 chart, where Boyle leads for a sixth week. Here's a quick rundown of the rest of the top 10 on this week's chart: Lady Gaga's "The Fame," as predicted here last week, climbs from No. 6 to a new peak of No. 2 with 82,000 (down 51%). The 62-week old album had previously topped out at No. 4 back on March 21, 2009.

Alicia Keys' "The Element of Freedom" climbs one spot to No. 3 with 80,000 (down 71%) while Mary J. Blige's "Stronger With Each Tear" drops two spots to No. 4 with 62,000. Justin Bieber's "My World" EP is up one to No. 6 with 52,000 (down 67%) while the soundtrack to "Alvin and the Chimpunks: the Squeakquel" flies from No. 20 to No. 7 with 51,000 (down 43%). The set makes such a large positional leap thanks to its relatively small sales decline -- overall album sales were down 55% this week, so its drop is not so bad in comparison.

Rounding out the bottom slots of the top 10, we have the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." moving from No. 15 to No. 8 with 47,000 (down 55%), Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster" EP up three spots to No. 9 (44,000; down 62%) and Owl City's "Ocean Eyes" up four rungs to No. 10 (down 59%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Jan. 3) totaled 7.76 million units, down 55% compared to the sum last week (15.14 million) and down 9% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009 (week ending Jan. 4; 8.51 million).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/44034/week-ending-jan-3-2010-the-first-all-female-top-five/
Week Ending Jan. 3, 2010: The First All-Female Top Five
Posted 6 minutes ago by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

For the first time ever, female solo artists occupy the top five spots on The Billboard 200. Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream logs its sixth week at #1; Lady Gaga's The Fame surges from #6 to #2; Alicia Keys' The Element Of Freedom rebounds from #4 to #3; Mary J. Blige's Stronger withEach Tear drops from #2 to #4; and Taylor Swift's Fearless holds at #5.

The previous record for female domination was set on April 21, 1990, when female solo artists held down the top four spots on The Billboard 200. The albums were, in order: Bonnie Raitt's Nick Of Time, Sinead O'Connor's I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 and Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl.

On two other occasions, women locked up the top four spots, though, in each case, female solo artists accounted for just three of those spots. On Feb. 10, 1996, the all-female Waiting To Exhale soundtrack finished ahead of albums by Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette and Mariah Carey. On Jan. 12, 2003, Norah Jones, Jennifer Lopez and Avril Lavigne finished ahead of Dixie Chicks.

I Dreamed A Dream is the first album to spend its first six weeks at #1 since 50 Cent's The Massacre in 2005. It's the first album by a female artist to spend its first six weeks at #1 since Norah Jones' Feels Like Home in 2004. It's the first album by a British artist to spend its first six weeks at #1 since Elton John's Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy way back in 1975.

I Dreamed A Dream is the first album to top the 3 million mark in sales in just six weeks since The Massacre. But this still wasn't enough for Boyle to overtake Swift's Fearless, which is officially the best-selling album of 2009. Fearless sold 3,217,000 copies in 2009, compared to 3,104,000 for I Dreamed A Dream. That gives Fearless a winning margin of 113,000 copies. That's the second closest margin between the year's top two albums in Nielsen/SoundScan history.

I have much more on the final year-end rankings in an updated Chart Watch Extra in which I count down the year's top 10 songs and albums. Here's a link.

For the record, this is the 53rd and last week of the 2009 chart year. (And yes, this means that sales that transpired on Jan. 1, 2 and 3 are recorded in 2009 sales totals.)

Both I Dreamed A Dream and The Fame are debut albums. This marks the first time that debut albums have held down the top two spots on The Billboard 200 since January 2003, when Norah Jones' Come Away With Me and Avril Lavigne's Let Go scored. There are two other debuts in this week's top 10: Justin Bieber's EP My World at #6, and Owl City's Ocean Eyes at #10.

The Fame sold more than 30,000 copies digitally this week, making it the week's #1 Digital Album. The Fame this week becomes only the fifth album ever to sell 500,000 or more digital copies. The album has sold 511,000 digital copies, which trails only Coldplay's Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (761,000), Taylor Swift's Fearless (568,000), the Twilight soundtrack (564,000) and Kings Of Leon's Only By The Night (533,000).

Sales routinely slip after the holidays. Boyle's tally of 137,000 copies this week is the slimmest weekly total for a #1 album since Michael Buble's Crazy Love debuted with sales of 132,000 in October. (And that based on just three days of sales; the album was released on a Friday.)

Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel jumps from #20 to #7 in its fifth week. The soundtrack to the first Alvin And The Chipmunks movie reached #5 in April 2008, when the movie was released on DVD. David Seville and the Chipmunks first reached the top 10 with their 1959 album Let's All Sing With The Chipmunks. Here's the very unlikely bottom line: The Chipmunks have had a longer span of top 10 albums than Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan or The Beatles.

The Squeakquel is the week's #1 soundtrack, replacing Michael Jackson's This Is It. The first Alvin And The Chipmunks was the #1 soundtrack for three straight weeks in March and April 2008.

Glee was conceived by Fox as a music show to follow to its top-rated American Idol. It has succeeded beyond all expectations. But no one could have foreseen this: In its first season, Glee is selling more albums than Idol is. As of this week, the two volumes of Glee: Season One, The Music have sold a combined total of 1,071,000 copies. By comparison, the debut albums by Idol winner Kris Allen, runner-up Adam Lambert and fourth place finisher Allison Iraheta have, as of this week, sold a combined total of 736,000 copies.

Both Glee albums are listed in this week's top 20. Volume 2 rebounds from #16 to #11; Volume 1 rebounds from #21 to #18.

Ke$ha's "TiK ToK" is #1 on Hot Digital Songs for the third straight week. The song sold 394,000 downloads this week, bringing its 15-week total to 2,443,000. Look for Ke$ha's debut album, Animal, to make a high entry on next week's chart.

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

1. Susan Boyle, I Dreamed A Dream, 137,000. The album holds at #1 for the sixth straight week. No songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs.

2. Lady Gaga, The Fame, 82,000. The album jumps from #6 to #2 in its 62nd week. This is its highest ranking to date. This is its 28th week in the top 10. Six songs from the expanded version of the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Bad Romance," which rebounds from #3 to #2.

3. Alicia Keys, The Element Of Freedom, 80,000. The album rebounds from #4 to #3 in its third week. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart," which dips from #81 to #82.

4. Mary J. Blige, Stronger withEach Tear, 62,000. The album slips from #2 to #4 in its second week. "I Am" drops from #109 to #182 on Hot Digital Songs.

5. Taylor Swift, Fearless, 60,000. The former #1 album holds at #5 in its 60th week. This is its 51st week in the top 10. Six songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "You Belong With Me," which dips from #22 to #24.

6. Justin Bieber, My World, 52,000. The EP rebounds from #7 to #6 in its seventh week. This is its fifth week in the top 10. (Bieber is the top male artist on this week's chart.) Four songs from the EP are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "One Time," which dips from #13 to #17.

7. Soundtrack, Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, 51,000. The soundtrack surges from #20 to #7 in its fifth week. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by the Chipettes' version of Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), which jumps from #132 to #100.

8. The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D., 47,000. The former #1 album rebounds from #15 to #8 in its 30th week. This is its 17th week in the top 10. This ends a rare, five-week shut-out where no groups or duos appeared in the top 10. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "I Gotta Feeling," which rebounds from #14 to #7.

9. Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster, 44,000. This eight-song EP rebounds from #12 to #9 in its sixth week. Two songs from the EP are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Bad Romance," which rebounds from #3 to #2.

10. Owl City, Ocean Eyes, 44,000. The album rebounds from #14 to #10 in its 25th week. This is its second week in the top 10. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Fireflies," which holds at #4.

Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas tumbles from #3 to #34, Carrie Underwood's Play On slips from #8 to #17, Young Money's We Are Young Money drops from #9 to #12, and Michael Buble's Crazy Love slips from #10 to #15.

Taylor Swift's 2007 release The Holiday Collection jumps from #34 to #29. It's this week's #1 Catalog Album ( replacing Michael Jackson's Number Ones) and #1 holiday album (replacing Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas).

At The Movies: Avatar was #1 at the box-office for the third weekend. It seems to be on track to becoming the second highest-grossing movie of all time, behind Titanic. James Cameron directed both films. James Horner scored both. The Avatar soundtrack leaps from #119 to #32 its third week on The Billboard 200. (Incidentally, Avatar is the first movie to be #1 for three weekends since Tropic Thunder in August 2007. It's the first Christmas release to be #1 for three weekends since National Treasure: Book Of Secrets in December 2007 and January 2008.)

Song Scorecard: Miley Cyrus' "Party In The U.S.A" and "Down" by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne both topped the 3 million mark in paid downloads this week. It's Lil Wayne's third song to reach this level, counting both lead and supporting roles. "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major) has sold 3,723,000 downloads. Kevin Rudolf's "Let It Rock" (on which Lil Wayne is featured) has sold 3,580,000.

Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and "Run This Town" by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West both topped the 2 million mark in paid downloads this week. "Bad Romance" did the trick in just 10 weeks, the fastest since The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" did it in 10 weeks in August.

Country Queens: Reba McEntire's "Consider Me Gone" tops Hot Country Songs for the third straight week. It's Reba's (as she is billed now) 23rd #1 country hit. Only one other female artist, Dolly Parton, has had more #1 country hits. Parton has had 25. McEntire first topped the country chart with "Can't Even Get The Blues" in January 1983. Parton first scored with "Joshua" in February 1971.

U.K. Watch: Paolo Nutini's Sunny Side Up, which first hit #1 in the U.K. in June, returns to the top spot this week. It's the first album to return to #1 in the U.K. after being dislodged since Kings Of Leon's Only By The Night in February.

Heads Up: As noted above, Ke$ha will try to parlay the success of her #1 smash "TiK ToK" into a hit album with Animal, due on next week's chart. Also due: Kanye West's VH1 Storytellers and Katharine McPhee's Unbroken.

[Rodze]

Updated with: gothamjungle.com/GothamBlog/?p=7006

1 SUSAN BOYLE I DREAMED A DREAM 136566 3103828
2 LADY GAGA FAME 82148 2387666
3 ALICIA KEYS ELEMENT OF FREEDOM 79801 779093
4 MARY J. BLIGE STRONGER 62181 394005
5 TAYLOR SWIFT FEARLESS 59701 5329167
6 JUSTIN BEIBER MY WORLD 51837 727914
7 ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL 50602 274231
8 BLACK EYED PEAS E.N.D. (ENERGY NEVER DIES) 47190 1786825
9 LADY GAGA FAME MONSTER (8TRK) 44212 570475
10 OWL CITY OCEAN EYES 44129 653037
11 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC V2 43791 429206
12 YOUNG MONEY WE ARE YOUNG MONEY 43195 185696
13 EMINEM RELAPSE 40862 1735358
14 RIHANNA RATED R 39571 498595
15 MICHAEL BUBLE CRAZY LOVE 35021 1222070
16 VARIOUS NOW 32 34547 674654
17 CARRIE UNDERWOOD PLAY ON 33501 1183066
18 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC V1 32105 641933
19 JOHN MAYER BATTLE STUDIES 31826 698068
20 LADY ANTEBELLUM LADY ANTEBELLUM 26810 1351745

SOUNDTRACK AVATAR 18000
LAMBERT*ADAM FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT 17000 434000
DAUGHTRY LEAVE THIS TOWN 12000 882000
VARIOUS WOW HITS 2010 10000 155000
ALLEN*KRIS KRIS ALLEN 9000 228000
VARIOUS NOW 31 8000 850000
STEWART*ROD SOULBOOK 7000 328000
VARIOUS NOW COUNTRY V2 5000 219000
SOUNDTRACK HANNAH MONTANA 3 5000 559000
CLARKSON*KELLY ALL I EVER WANTED 5000 815000
UNDERWOOD*CARRIE CARNIVAL RIDE 4000 3045000
IRAHETA*ALLISON JUST LIKE YOU 4000 74000
UNDERWOOD*CARRIE SOME HEARTS 3000 6917000
PICKLER*KELLIE KELLIE PICKLER 3000 372000
VARIOUS NOW COUNTRY 1000 405000

[wavetunes]

Thanks Rodze!

[areyoureadytojump]

www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/charts/chart_alert/e3i015c08bd6f66cc4975c53ef5e55d3d43

Boyle's Still On Top, But Swift Finishes As Year's Biggest
January 06, 2010

Editor: Keith Caulfield; Contributors: Gary Trust, Alex Vitoulis; Editorial Director: Silvio Pietroluongo

Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" holds onto the Billboard 200 crown for a sixth week, but can't topple Taylor Swift's "Fearless" as the top-selling album of 2009 . . . The '09 sales total for "Dream" climbs to 3,104,000—a bit short of the 3,217,000 copies that "Fearless" sold . . . Still, "Dream" was the best-selling new album of the year and the biggest physical release . . . In Chart Alert this week we also run down the top 10 best-selling albums of 2009 and preview next week's chart, where Ke$ha's "Animal" is aiming for the Hot Shot Debut.



FLASH POINTS

• Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" reigns for a sixth straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 137,000 (down 73%), according to Nielsen SoundScan, bringing her cumulative sales total to 3,104,000. However, while that is a huge sales sum—especially considering it was accumulated in just six weeks' time—it's not enough to overtake Taylor Swift's "Fearless" as 2009's top-selling album. The latter is No. 5 on the Billboard 200 this week, selling another 60,000 and bringing its 2009 total to 3,217,000.

• Of course, Boyle can rest easy in knowing that her "Dream" is but one of just two albums to sell at least 3 million copies in the United States last year—something that hasn't happened since 2006, when three albums did so. "Dream" is also 2009's top-selling album released last year (Swift's "Fearless" dropped in late 2008) and the top-selling physical album of the year. Of its overall 2009 total, physical CDs accounted for 3,019,000 copies, whereas digital downloads made up a rather tiny 86,000.

• If Swift's "Fearless" finishes '09 as the best-selling album and Boyle's "Dream" is No. 2, then who rounds out the year's top 10 sellers? Michael Jackson's "Number Ones" is 2009's third-biggest-selling album, with 2.5 million, according to SoundScan, while Lady Gaga's "The Fame" is fourth with 2.2 million. Andrea Bocelli's recent release "My Christmas" powered through 2.2 million in just nine weeks, making it the year's fifth-best. The soundtrack to "Hannah Montana: The Movie" is sixth (1.8 million), followed by the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." (No. 7 with 1.8 million), Eminem's "Relapse" (No. 8 with 1.7 million), Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" (No. 9 with 1.5 million) and Kings of Leon's "Only by the Night" (No. 10 with 1.4 million).

• Jackson's fans will also be pleased to find out that the King of Pop owns four of the year's top 20 best-selling albums. Not only is "Number Ones" at No. 3 on the year-end list, the top 20 also houses "This Is It" (No. 12 with 1.3 million), "Thriller" (No. 14 with 1.3 million) and "The Essential Michael Jackson" (No. 20 with 1.2 million).

• Jackson is the biggest-selling albums artist for 2009 with more than 8.2 million sales for the year. Swift is the second-biggest-selling albums artist for 2009 with 4.6 million in sales and the second straight year of 4 million or more album sales.

• For the 52-week period of Jan. 5, 2009, through Jan. 3, 2010, 373.9 million albums were sold in the United States, down 12.7% compared with the same frame of 2008 where 428.4 million albums were sold. However, digital album sales in the same time frame comparison rose a hearty 16.1%, to an all-time high of 76.4 million in 2009 versus 65.8 million in 2008.

• Vinyl LP aficionados can also celebrate that vinyl album sales totaled 2.5 million in 2009, up a whopping 33% compared with 2008 (1.9 million). More vinyl albums were purchased in 2009 than any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan (since 1991).

• Total music purchases in 2009—which include albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks—reached the 1.5 billion mark, making it the fifth consecutive year music sales have exceeded 1 billion. (2008 saw 1.5 billion in sales, there were 1.4 billion in 2007, 1.2 billion in 2006 and 1.01 billion in 2005.)

• Switching gears for a moment, we take a look at the top-selling digital songs of the year. 2009 marked the first time a digital song broke the 4-million sales mark in a single year. And even better: Four songs sailed past the 4 million mark.

• The Black Eyed Peas own the No. 1 and No. 2 sellers: "Boom Boom Pow" (4.8 million) and "I Gotta Feeling" (4.4 million). Not to be outdone, Lady Gaga nets both the third- and fifth-biggest selling tunes with "Poker Face" (4.4 million) and "Just Dance" (3.2 million), respectively. Flo Rida's "Right Round" (No. 4, 4.1 million), Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." (No. 6, 3.2 million), Jay Sean's "Down" (No. 7, 3.1 million), All-American Rejects' "Gives You Hell" (No. 8, 2.9 million), Owl City's "Firelfies" (No. 9, 2.8 million) and Jason DeRulo's "Watcha Say" (No. 10, 2.8 million) round out the rest of the year's top 10 best-selling digital songs.

• A whopping 1.2 billion digital tracks were sold in 2009, up 8.3% compared with 2008 (1.1 billion). The biggest-selling artist, in terms of digital song downloads, was Lady Gaga with more than 15 million in track sales.

• THIS WEEK'S BILLBOARD 200:

• As it turns out, four of the year's biggest-selling albums also happen to be featured on the current Billboard 200, where Boyle leads for a sixth week. Here's a quick rundown of the rest of the top 10 on this week's chart: Lady Gaga's "The Fame," as predicted here last week, climbs from No. 6 to a new peak of No. 2 with 82,000 (down 51%). The 62-week-old album had previously topped out at No. 4 back on March 21, 2009.

• Alicia Keys' "The Element of Freedom" climbs one spot to No. 3 with 80,000 (down 71%) while Mary J. Blige's "Stronger With Each Tear" drops two spots to No. 4 with 62,000. Justin Bieber's "My World" EP is up one to No. 6 with 52,000 (down 67%) while the soundtrack to "Alvin and the Chimpunks: The Squeakquel" flies from No. 20 to No. 7 with 51,000 (down 43%). The set makes such a large positional leap thanks to its relatively small sales decline—overall album sales were down 55% this week, so its drop is not so bad in comparison.

• Rounding out the bottom slots of the top 10, we have the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." moving from No. 15 to No. 8 with 47,000 (down 55%), Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster" EP up three spots to No. 9 (44,000; down 62%) and Owl City's "Ocean Eyes" up four rungs to No. 10 (down 59%).

• Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Jan. 3) totaled 7.8 million units, down 55% compared with the sum last week (15.1 million) and down 9% compared with the comparable sales week of 2009 (week ending Jan. 4; 8.5 million).

• A LOOK AHEAD:

• As we take a look at next week's Billboard 200—and the first sales week of 2010—we're gearing up for what could be a battle for No. 1.

• Presently, next week's topper could be Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" or perhaps Ke$ha's just-released debut album, "Animal." Early prognostications from label sources suggest that both efforts may sell around 100,000 copies by week's end on Jan. 10. However, with Ke$ha's very youthful audience going up against Boyle's more mature demographic, it's a tough call on who may come out on top.

• Ke$ha's album has an attractive developing-artist list price of $9.98, but it's on sale for less than that at the big physical retailers. Additionally, the Amazon MP3 and iTunes Stores are offering it for only $6.99. Sources suggest that an overwhelming amount of the album's first-week sales will be powered by digital downloads.

• The young singer has already made a lot of chart noise, as the lead single from "Animal," "Tik Tok," has sold 2.4 million downloads in total—including 394,000 this past week. It retains the No. 1 slot on the Hot Digital Songs chart for a third straight frame as well.


MARKET WATCH

• Album units, current chart week: 7.8 million units
• DOWN 55% from last week's charts: 17.1 million units
• DOWN 9% from the comparable week in 2009: 6.3 million units
• This week: Only the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 sells more than 100,000 copies.
• This week last year on the Billboard 200: Taylor Swift's "Fearless" was a familiar face at No. 1, selling 72,000. The chart's top debut was at No. 16 from "Total Club Hits 2" with 20,000 copies.



A LOOK AHEAD

• Among the albums released this week, due on next week's charts: Ke$ha's "Animal," Katharine McPhee's "Unbroken" and Elvis Presley's "Elvis 75."

• Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2009 when: Taylor Swift's "Fearless" was yet again No. 1 (63,000) while the biggest new entry was the soundtrack to "Notorious" at No. 4 with 43,000.

[popindustrialist]

Jan 6, 2010 15:06:36 GMT -5 Young Money said:

I don't get this...how is Susan the fastest 4x album? What about Eminem or NSYNC?

2m's got it right, it's a paperwork record.

At the 6 week mark ...

No Strings Attached had scanned 5.1 million

Marshall Mathers LP had scanned 4.4 million

Black & Blue had scanned 4.3 million

Oops I Did It Again had scanned 3.4 million

I'm just surprised the RIAA even remembers how to certify an album.

[areyoureadytojump]

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

Numbers are from the 1/2/10 chart:

Susan Boyle 2,460,000 (reported to be certified 4xp)
Carrie Underwood 996k
Justin Beiber 519k
Lady GaGa EP 410k
Now 32 546k
John Mayer 575k
Miley Cyrus 1,129,000
Norah Jones 523k
Tim McGraw 479k
Daughtry 835k
Brad Paisley 439k
Kenny Chesney 527k
Eminem 1,566,000
Hannah Montana 3 Sdtk. 539k
Jonas Brothers 605k
Kelly Clarkson 796k
Rascal Flatts 802k (GH album)

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

[Rodze]

areyoureadytojump,

I think someone mixed up HITS with Billboard.

[maria4hitz]

4 TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE 60,625 5,330,091 -- FEARLESS
27 TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE 19,970 562,493 -- HOLIDAY COLLECTION
41 TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE 15,003 4,621,169 -- TAYLOR SWIFT

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2010 20:49:38 GMT -5 Rodze said:

areyoureadytojump,

I think someone mixed up HITS with Billboard.

Yeah the totals don't match to reported Billboard numbers

This looks like a HITS chart

[areyoureadytojump]

FRACK! Sorry. Deleted. Thanks.

[maria4hitz]

nvm

[HolidayGuy]

Surely SuBo will lose that title soon? And what other act, in the near future, is going to sell 3.1 million of his or her debut album in just 6 weeks? lol

[wallace]

Jan 6, 2010 20:14:21 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

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

Numbers are from the 1/2/10 chart:

Susan Boyle 2,460,000 (reported to be certified 4xp)
Carrie Underwood 996k
Justin Beiber 519k
Lady GaGa EP 410k
Now 32 546k
John Mayer 575k
Miley Cyrus 1,129,000
Norah Jones 523k
Tim McGraw 479k
Daughtry 835k
Brad Paisley 439k
Kenny Chesney 527k
Eminem 1,566,000
Hannah Montana 3 Sdtk. 539k
Jonas Brothers 605k
Kelly Clarkson 796k
Rascal Flatts 802k (GH album)

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

If the certification requires RCA to lift a finger or pay a penny, no Kelly Clarkson record will be certified for anything. Kelly has overdue certifications going back years.