Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 while the soundtrack to “Juno” jumps into the top three with a 78% gain in sales … Last week’s chart-topper, Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” slips to No. 2 with a 44% decline … The chart’s top debut belongs to Sia, whose latest album, “Some People Have Real Problems,” gives the artist her first ink on the Billboard 200 and her best sales week ever … Also debuting this week is U.K. singer Kate Nash with her debut album, “Made of Bricks,” at No. 36 … In Progress Reports, we’ve got news on new artists Dana Parish and Carter’s Chord as well as updates on Band of Horses and Janet Jackson.
FLASH POINTS
• Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” climbs back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 70,000, giving the album its second week atop the list. The set debuted at No. 1 nine weeks ago and has since remained in the chart’s top three. Quick, name the last album to spend its first nine chart weeks in the top three. You have to scroll all the way back to 2004, when a former duet partner of Keys — Usher — saw his blockbuster “Confessions” album hang out in the top three for its first 17 chart weeks.
• The Fox/Rhino soundtrack to “Juno” rises to No. 3, selling 68,000 with a 78% increase. It’s Rhino’s highest-charting album and has a chance at reaching No. 1 next week. This week’s batch of new releases is fairly low key, so don’t expect a lot of changes at the top of the chart next week, giving “Juno” an opportunity to reach the penthouse … History has taught us that soundtracks from music-driven films tend to do well this month. With album sales always dreary in January, that gives some albums — especially those with a built-in promotion vehicle like a film — a chance to leap up the chart. Take for instance the rise of “Dreamgirls” to No. 1 last year. Or, in Januarys past: “Chicago” (No. 2, 2003), “Save the Last Dance” (No. 3, 2001), “Titanic” (No. 1, 1998), “Romeo + Juliet” (No. 2, 1997), “Evita” (No. 2, 1997) and “Waiting to Exhale” (No. 1, 1996).
• Last week’s No. 1, Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” slips to No. 2 with 69,000 (down 44%).
• Sia’s new album “Some People Have Real Problems” is the chart’s highest debut at No. 26. The Hear Music set gives the singer her first Billboard 200 charting album with a career-high sales week of 20,000. Digital retailers accounted for 44% of that total. No doubt a sizable amount of the set’s sales came from Starbucks and Hear Music stores … Sia gained notoriety in the United States after her song “Breathe Me” was used in the final episode of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” in 2005. Her “Colour the Small One” album, which features “Breathe Me,” has quietly sold 98,000 since its American bow in 2006.
• The second-highest debut on the chart this week belongs to U.K. singer Kate Nash, who finds her “Made of Bricks” starting at No. 36 with 16,000. The set is a former Official U.K. Albums Chart No. 1, and it also houses the No. 2 U.K. Singles smash “Foundations” … Nash was earlier introduced to U.S. audiences in September 2007 by way of a five-song EP titled “Foundations,” which has sold more than 10,000 to date.
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The Billboard 200 Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| 1 | 2 | ALICIA KEYS As I Am (MBK / J / RMG) | 11 | 9 | COLBIE CAILLAT Coco (Universal Republic / UMRG) |
| 2 | 1 | RADIOHEAD In Rainbows (TBD / ATO) | 12 | 11 | KEYSHIA COLE Just Like You (Confidential / Imani / Geffen / IGA) |
| *3 | 8 | SOUNDTRACK Juno (Fox / Rhino / AG) | 13 | 13 | SOUNDTRACK Alvin And The Chipmunks (Fox / Razor & Tie) |
| 4 | 3 | MARY J. BLIGE Growing Pains (Matriarch / Geffen / IGA) | 14 | 15 | ONEREPUBLIC Dreaming Out Loud (Mosley / Interscope / IGA) |
| 5 | 5 | TAYLOR SWIFT Taylor Swift (Big Machine ) | 15 | 14 | MILEY CYRUS Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus (Walt Disney / Hollywood ) |
| 6 | 4 | VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW 26 (EMI / Sony BMG Strategic Marketing Group / Universal / Zomba / Capitol) | 16 | 18 | SOUNDTRACK Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Nonesuch / Warner Bros.) |
| 7 | 6 | CHRIS BROWN Exclusive (Jive / Zomba) | 17 | 22 | SUGARLAND Enjoy The Ride (Mercury Nashville / UMGN) |
| 8 | 10 | EAGLES Long Road Out Of Eden (ERC ) | *18 | 31 | SARA BAREILLES Little Voice (Epic / Sony Music) |
| 9 | 7 | GARTH BROOKS The Ultimate Hits (Pearl ) | *19 | 26 | DAUGHTRY Daughtry (RCA / RMG) |
| 10 | 12 | FERGIE The Dutchess (will.i.am / A&M / Interscope / IGA) | 20 | 16 | LED ZEPPELIN Mothership (Swan Song / Atlantic) |
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
MARKET WATCH
• Album units, current chart week: 7.25 million units
• DOWN 20% from last issue’s charts: 9.06 million units
• DOWN 10% from same week, 2007: 8.09 million units
• This week: No albums sell more than 100,000 copies.
• This week last year on the Billboard 200: The “Dreamgirls” soundtrack spent a second week at No. 1 with a depressing 60,000 sold. The soundtrack to Disney Channel’s “Jump In!” bowed at No. 5 with 49,000. No albums sold more than 100,000.
BORDERLINES
• The No. 200 album this week, Killswitch Engage’s “As Daylight Dies” (Roadrunner), sold 3,000.
• The No. 200 album for the same week of 2007, the “15 Years on Death Row” compilation (Death Row), sold 4,000.
• Average total of the No. 200 album for the same week of the year during the past 10 years (1999-2008): 5,058.
PROGRESS REPORTS
• Janet Jackson debuts on a number of radio airplay charts this week with her new single “Feedback.” On the CHR/Top 40 list it begins at No. 37, on Rhythmic Top 40 it bows at No. 38 and on the Urban chart it lands at No. 36. The tune is the lead track from her new studio album, “Discipline,” due Feb. 26. “Call On Me,” the first single from her last album, “20 Y.O.,” stalled at No. 32 on CHR/Top 40 and No. 21 on Rhythmic Top 40. However, the duet with Nelly hit No. 5 on the Urban chart.
• Sub Pop act Band of Horses earns its first radio chart hit as “Is There a Ghost” bows at No. 35 on the Alternative/Modern Rock chart this week. While the band’s most recent album, “Cease to Begin,” started at a lofty No. 35 on The Billboard 200 last year, a radio chart hit has eluded the act until now … On the Hot Country Songs chart, female trio Carter’s Chord lands its first hit, as “Young Love” debuts at No. 59. The sister act, made up of Becky, Emily and Joanna Robertson, signed with Toby Keith’s Show Dog Nashville label in late 2006. The group’s debut album is slated for an early-2008 release.
• Cherry Hill, N.J., native Dana Parish scores her first Billboard chart ink this week as her single “Not My Problem” debuts on the Adult Contemporary chart at No. 30. The singer/songwriter, who once was a backup singer for Michael Jackson, found support for her song this past week from such radio stations KQIS Lafayette, La.; WRSA Huntsville, Ala.; and WHLG Fort Pierce, Fla.
| Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| 1 | 1 | MARY J. BLIGE Growing Pains (Matriarch / Geffen / IGA) | |||
| 2 | 2 | ALICIA KEYS As I Am (MBK / J / RMG) | |||
| 3 | 3 | KEYSHIA COLE Just Like You (Confidential / Imani / Geffen / IGA) | |||
| 4 | 4 | JAHEIM The Makings Of A Man (Divine Mill / Atlantic / AG) | |||
| 5 | 5 | CHRIS BROWN Exclusive (Jive / Zomba) | |||
| 6 | 7 | JAY-Z American Gangster (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam / IDJMG) | |||
| 7 | 6 | LUPE FIASCO Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool (1st & 15th / Atlantic / AG) | |||
| *8 | 10 | THE-DREAM Love/Hate (Radio Killa / Def Jam / IDJMG) | |||
| 9 | 8 | BIRDMAN 5*Stunna (Cash Money / Universal Motown / UMRG) | |||
| 10 | 9 | KIRK FRANKLIN The Fight Of My Life (Fo Yo Soul / Gospo Centric / Zomba) | |||
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
| Top Country Albums Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| 1 | 1 | TAYLOR SWIFT Taylor Swift (Big Machine ) | |||
| 2 | 3 | EAGLES Long Road Out Of Eden (ERC ) | |||
| 3 | 2 | GARTH BROOKS The Ultimate Hits (Pearl ) | |||
| 4 | 6 | SUGARLAND Enjoy The Ride (Mercury / UMGN) | |||
| 5 | 4 | CARRIE UNDERWOOD Carnival Ride (Arista / Arista Nashville / RMG/SBN) | |||
| 6 | 7 | ROBERT PLANT / ALISON KRAUSS Raising Sand (Rounder ) | |||
| 7 | 5 | RASCAL FLATTS Still Feels Good (Lyric Street / Hollywood) | |||
| 8 | 8 | REBA MCENTIRE Reba Duets (MCA Nashville / UMGN) | |||
| 9 | 9 | KEITH URBAN Greatest Hits (Capitol Nashville ) | |||
| 10 | 10 | KENNY CHESNEY Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates (BNA / SBN) | |||
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
| Top Pop Catalog Albums Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| 1 | 1 | BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers (Tuff Gong / Island / UMe) | |||
| 2 | 2 | GUNS N’ ROSES Greatest Hits (Geffen / IGA) | |||
| *3 | 4 | NATALIE GRANT Awaken (Curb ) | |||
| *4 | New | ELVIS PRESLEY Peace In The Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings (RCA / Sony BMG) | |||
| 5 | 5 | MICHAEL BUBLE It’s Time (143 / Reprise / Warner Bros.) | |||
| 6 | 3 | EAGLES The Very Best Of (Warner Strategic Marketing ) | |||
| 7 | 7 | JOURNEY Journey’s Greatest Hits (Legacy / Columbia / Sony BMG) | |||
| 8 | 6 | PINK FLOYD Dark Side Of The Moon (Capitol ) | |||
| 9 | 9 | ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING Wicked (Decca Broadway / Decca) | |||
| *10 | 21 | FRANK SINATRA The Heart Of The Matter: Frank Sinatra Sings About Love (EMI Special Markets / Starbucks) | |||
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
A LOOK AHEAD
• Among the titles released this week, due on next week’s charts: Ringo Starr’s “Liverpool 8,” Raheem DeVaughn’s “Love Behind the Melody” and Anne Murray’s “Anne Murray’s Duets: Friends and Legends,” along with the wide release of Spice Girls’ “Greatest Hits.”
• Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2007 when: Daughtry’s self-titled album rose to No. 1, selling 65,000. The highest debut came at No. 32 with Diana Ross’ “I Love You,” shifting 21,000. No albums sold more than 100,000.