Destiny’s Child’s “#1’s” lives up to its namesake with a chart-topping bow on The Billboard 200 this week. With 113,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, the Sony Urban Music/Columbia effort ends the one-week reign of Ashlee Simpson’s “I Am Me.”
Though not every song has topped a Billboard chart, the 16-track collection does include four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s: “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Say My Name,” “Independent Women Part 1” and “Bootylicious.”
It’s the second No. 1 album for the trio. 2001’s “Survivor” also topped the big chart with first=week sales of 663,000 copies and has sold 4.3 million to date.
Nickelback’s “All the Right Reasons” gets a two-slot bump to No. 2 despite a 23% dip to 102,000, while Martina McBride maintains her No. 3 position for the second week with “Timeless” (RCA). That album also logs a second week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
Rod Stewart’s “Thanks for the Memory… The Great American Songbook Vol. IV” (J Records) drops 2-4 on The Billboard 200 on a 53% slide to 91,000 copies. Despite a 15% dip to sales of 80,000 copies, the Black Eyed Peas’ “Monkey Business” (A&M/Interscope) rebounds 8-5, and Simpson’s Geffen set falls 1-6 on a 67% decline to 73,000.
A No. 7 entry for Joe Nichols’ third studio album, the aptly titled “III,” gives the country artist his best placement on The Billboard 200. With sales of 57,000 copies, the Universal South set also lands at No. 2 on Top Country Albums. Nichols previous went as high as No. 3 on the country chart and No. 23 on The Billboard 200 with last year’s “Revelation,” which started with 43,000 units and has sold 273,000 to date.
Though sales fell 28% to 56,000 units, Kanye West’s “Late Registration” (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) rebounds 10-8 on The Billboard 200 while Bun-B’s “Trill” drops 6-9 thanks to a 53% sales slip to 55,000.
Rounding out the top tier is “Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook,” the first top 10 title for the Divine Miss M in more than a decade. The Columbia set notched a rounded total of 55,000 copies, a few hundred short of Bun B’s same rounded total.
“Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook” gave the artist a higher first-week sales tally in 2003 (71,000), but a lower chart entry (No. 14); it has sold 724,000 copies to date. Midler last appeared in the top 10 in 1991 with the No. 6 peak of “Some People’s Lives.”
The 21-track Hip-O career-spanning collection “The Legend of Johnny Cash” gives the late country legend his biggest sales week (50,000) in the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991-). The album, which boasts cuts from his early days at Sun Records to Rick Rubin collaborations in the sunset of his life, bows at No. 11.
“The Legend” is Cash’s highest-charting release since “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” went to No. 6 in 1970. His previous best Nielsen SoundScan sales week came in 2003 when “American IV” moved 45,000 copies during Christmas week. With the biopic “Walk the Line” due to open Nov. 18 in U.S. theaters, the Cash catalog could see new sales records in the coming months.
The Billboard 200’s remaining top 50 debuts came from Aerosmith’s “Rockin’ the Joint: Live at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas” (Columbia, No. 24), Il Divo’s “The Christmas Collection” (Syco/Columbia, No. 32) and ‘N Sync’s “Greatest Hits” (Jive, No. 47).
Overall U.S. album sales were down 12% from last week at 9.5 million units, about 9% lower than the same week last year. Sales for the year are behind those of 2004 by 10% at 456 million units.
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