Bob Dylan earns his fifth chart-topper on the Billboard 200 as “Together Through Life” begins atop the list with 125,000 . . . Rock super group Heaven and Hell make a top 10 bow, as does the world music-flavored “Playing for Change” compilation . . . In Progress Reports we’ve got updates on Jason Aldean’s new No. 1 single, Nickelback and Cage the Elephant, the Pussycat Dolls, Snoop Dogg and . . . actor/singer Michael Damian?! “Rock On!”
FLASH POINTS
• Bob Dylan, whose Billboard 200 chart career began in 1963, lands his fifth No. 1 album this week as “Together Through Life” opens atop the list with 125,000. It gives the icon back-to-back No. 1s with studio albums, as 2006’s “Modern Times” also started in the penthouse. However, the latter set bowed with a much stronger number — 192,000. “Modern” was ushered in with an Apple iTunes/iPod TV spot, which starred Dylan himself singing that album’s song “Someday Baby.” The new album did not have such a splashy marketing tie-in.
• The first week for “Together” is more in line with what Dylan saw with 2001’s “Love and Theft” (134,000 for a No. 5 debut) and 1997’s “Time out of Mind” (102,000 for a No. 10 debut).
• Last week’s No. 1 album, Rick Ross’ “Deeper Than Rap,” takes a not-unexpected 67.5% second-week decline, falling to No. 4 with 51,000 after his debut with 158,000 last week. It’s not unusual for hip-hop albums to take a nose-dive in their second week, as the chart has proven in the past. Earlier this year, Jadakiss’ “The Last Kiss” fell 66.7% in its sophomore frame (going from 135,000 to 45,000), UGK’s “UGK 4 Life” slipped 65.6% in its second week (76,000 vs. 26,000), and Jim Jones’ “Pray IV Reign” fell 68% in week No. 2 (43,000 vs. 14,000).
• The Billboard 200’s second-highest debut this week comes from rock super group Heaven and Hell with “The Devil You Know.” The Rhino effort, which boasts four men that are either current or former members of Black Sabbath, starts at No. 8 with 30,000 . . . The compilation “Playing for Change” starts at No. 10 with 26,000, powered by strong sales from Internet retailers and Starbucks stores.
• Elsewhere in the top 10 this week . . . The “Hannah Montana: the Movie” soundtrack holds at No. 2 with 86,000 (down 18%), Rascal Flatts’ “Unstoppable” (Lyric Street) climbs one rung to No. 3 with 53,000 (down 22%), Lady GaGa’s “The Fame” rises two slots to No. 5 with 40,000 (up 0.6%), the soundtrack to “Twilight” stays steady at No. 6 with 35,000 (down 14%), the “Now 30” compilation moves up two rungs to No. 7 with 33,000 (down 10%), and Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” returns to the top 10 at No. 9 — moving up two slots — with 29,000 (up 1%).
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The Billboard 200 Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| *1 | New | BOB DYLAN Together Through Life (Columbia / Sony Music) | 11 | 13 | NICKELBACK Dark Horse (Roadrunner ) |
| 2 | 2 | SOUNDTRACK Hannah Montana: The Movie (Walt Disney ) | *12 | New | MIKE JONES The Voice (Ice Age / SwishaHouse / Asylum / Warner Bros.) |
| 3 | 4 | RASCAL FLATTS Unstoppable (Lyric Street ) | 13 | 12 | JASON ALDEAN Wide Open (Broken Bow ) |
| 4 | 1 | RICK ROSS Deeper Than Rap (Maybach / Slip-N-Slide / Def Jam / IDJMG) | 14 | 5 | ASHER ROTH Asleep In The Bread Aisle (SchoolBoy / Loud / SRC / Universal Motown / UMRG) |
| 5 | 7 | LADY GAGA The Fame (Streamline / KonLive / Cherrytree / Interscope / IGA) | *15 | 15 | KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night (RCA / RMG) |
| 6 | 6 | SOUNDTRACK Twilight (Summit / Chop Shop / Atlantic / AG) | 16 | 14 | KERI HILSON In A Perfect World… (Mosley / Zone 4 / Interscope / IGA) |
| 7 | 9 | VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW 30 (Universal / EMI / Sony Music / Zomba / UMe) | *17 | 27 | JAMIE FOXX Intuition (J / RMG) |
| *8 | New | HEAVEN & HELL The Devil You Know (Rhino ) | 18 | 3 | DEPECHE MODE Sounds Of The Universe (Mute / Virgin / Capitol) |
| 9 | 11 | TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless (Big Machine ) | 19 | 20 | BEYONCE I Am…Sasha Fierce (Music World / Columbia / Sony Music) |
| *10 | New | VARIOUS ARTISTS Playing For Change: Songs Around The World (StarCon / Hear) | 20 | 10 | JADAKISS The Last Kiss (Ruff Ryders / D-Block / Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam / IDJMG) |
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
MARKET WATCH
• Album units, current chart week: 6.2 million units
• DOWN 0.6% from last week’s charts: 6.2 million units
• DOWN 18.3% from same week, 2008: 7.6 million units
• This week: Only the No. 1 album sells more than 100,000 copies.
• This week last year on the Billboard 200: Madonna’s “Hard Candy” led a whopping seven entries in the top 10 with its 280,000 debut. Lyfe Jennings’ “Lyfe Change” was the next-highest bow at No. 4 with 80,000.
BORDERLINES
• The No. 50 album this week, Soulja Boy Tell’em’s “iSouljaBoyTellem” (ColliPark/Interscope/IGA), sold 10,000.
• The No. 50 album for the same week of 2008, Michael Buble’s “A Taste of Buble (EP)” (143/Reprise/Warner Bros.), sold 13,000.
• Average total of the No. 50 album for the same week of the year during the past 10 years (2000-2009): 18,928.
PROGRESS REPORTS
• Jason Aldean logs his second No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, and his first in three years, as “She’s Country” kicks up one slot to No. 1. The Macon, Ga., native celebrated his first No. 1 with “Why” on the May 27, 2006, tally. His span between toppers is the format’s longest since Garth Brooks waited nine years between “To Make You Feel My Love” (July 1998) and “More Than a Memory” (September 2007) . . . Wordsmiths, take note: The list’s new leader is the fourth No. 1 this decade with the chart’s name in its title. It joins Alan Jackson’s “Country Boy” (January), Trace Adkins’ “Ladies Love Country Boys” (2007) and Brooks and Dunn’s “Play Something Country” (2005). Two tracks qualified in the ’90s: Jackson’s “Gone Country” (1995) and Doug Stone’s “A Jukebox With a Country Song” (1992).
• Cage the Elephant notches its first top 10 hit on the Modern Rock radio airplay chart as “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” zips from No. 14 to No. 10 in its seventh week on the chart . . . On the Adult Top 40 radio tally, Nickelback’s “If Today Was Your Last Day” rises to No. 10, giving the band its ninth top 10 hit and its seventh in a row. The group’s streak began with “Photograph” (No. 1) in 2005. Only two of the act’s chart hits — “Too Bad” (No. 31) and “Feelin’ Way Too Damn Good” (No. 12) — have missed the top 10.
• Actor/singer Michael Damian returns to a Billboard airplay chart for the first time in little more than 17 years as “Rock On (2009)” bows at No. 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Damian, who starred as Danny Romalotti on the CBS daytime drama “The Young and the Restless” for 18 years, charted three AC hits from 1989 to 1992. He last visited the list May 2, 1992, when “(There’ll Never Be) Another You” spent its final week on the tally. Damian’s cover of David Essex’s 1973 hit “Rock On” originally peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 June 3, 1989. (Essex’s original topped out at No. 5 March 9, 1974.)
• On the Hot Dance Club Play chart, the Pussycat Dolls go five for five as “Bottle Pop” (featuring Snoop Dogg) becomes the group’s fifth No. 1 in as many tries. The last artist to take their first five entries to No. 1 was Rihanna, who did it with her first seven charting hits.
• Unbelievably, Snoop Dogg’s last four charting singles on the Club Play list have all reached No. 1. However, all but one were as the featured artist on someone else’s song. The quartet of No. 1s was led by Mariah Carey’s “Say Somethin'” (featuring Snoop), when it climbed to the top May 27, 2006. Later that year, the Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” (the first time Snoop helped out PCD), pushed to No. 1 Sept. 30. Then, on April 26, 2008, he claimed his first No. 1 all by himself as “Sensual Seduction” slinked its way to the top.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Among the albums released this week, due on next week’s charts: Ciara’s “Fantasy Ride,” Paul Potts’ “Passione,” Chrisette Michele’s “Epiphany,” Jewel’s “Lullaby,” Yusuf Islam’s “Roadsinger” and Elliott Yamin’s “Fight for Love.”
• Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2008 when: Neil Diamond scored his first No. 1 with “Home Before Dark,” shifting 146,000 in its first week. Six more albums started in the top 10, including Toby Keith’s “35 Biggest Hits” at No. 2 with 103,000.