Eminem’s “Relapse” easily holds for a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, shifting 211,000 in its sophomore frame. Last week it bounded in atop the list with 608,000 . . . The top 10 welcomes new albums from Marilyn Manson, Wisin and Yandel and Grizzly Bear . . . In Progress Reports we’ve got updates on the continued success of Taylor Swift on the Hot Country Songs chart, how seemingly every former “American Idol” contestant is flying up our radio charts and how country diva Wynonna is experiencing her first dancefloor club hit.
FLASH POINTS
• After last week’s blowout week on the Billboard 200—where there were seven debuts in the top 10—this week’s tally is slightly tamer. While there are still three new albums that arrive in the top 10, the Hot Shot Debut is Marilyn Manson’s “The High End of Low” at No. 4 with 49,000. While it gives the band its sixth top 10 set, it arrives with the smallest opening-week sum of any of its albums since the live effort “The Last Tour on Earth” began with 26,000 in 1999. The group’s last studio release, 2007’s “Eat Me, Drink Me,” entered the list at No. 8 with 88,000.
• Eminem’s “Relapse” holds on to the No. 1 slot with ease, shifting 211,000 in its second week, down 65.3% from its whopping bow last week with 608,000. With 819,000 sold, “Relapse” has already become the No. 5 best-seller of the year. Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” leads the pack with 1.2 million. So far, only two albums have shifted at least 1 million copies in 2009, “Fearless” and the “Hannah Montana: The Movie” soundtrack. At this point last year, believe it or not, only one album had surpassed 1 million—Jack Johnson’s “Sleep Through the Static.”
• Back in the top 10 this week, Wisin and Yandel’s “La Revolucion” debuts at No. 7 with 36,000. That marks the highest-charting set on the Billboard 200 for the duo—and its second-best opening sales week. The act’s last set, “Wisin Vs. Yandel: Los Extraterrestres,” entered at No. 14 with 53,000 . . . Despite the lower sales frame for the new album, it still opens at No. 7—making it the highest charting Spanish-language album since Mana’s “Amar Es Combatir” debuted and peaked at No. 4 in September 2006 off an opening sales week of 87,000.
• Indie rock band Grizzly Bear is having its best week ever as its third full-length studio set, “Veckatimest,” arrives at No. 8 with 33,000. That’s the first album to chart on the Billboard 200 for the Massachusetts band and it also gives the quartet its best sales week. Forty percent of its sales came from downloads while another 24% were shifted at independent and small-chain stores.
• Just outside the top 10 this week, country duo Montgomery Gentry sees its “For Our Heroes” album bow at No. 11 with 26,000. The set, a quasi-greatest-hits package, was sold exclusively through Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the album will go to the Wounded Warrior Project charity.
• Finally, here’s a recap of the top 10 this week. Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown” holds at No. 2 with 76,000 (down 54%) while the “Hannah Montana: The Movie” soundtrack climbs three slots to No. 3 with 52,000 (down 10%). Lady GaGa’s “The Fame” skips up three positions to No. 5 with 45,000 (up less than 1%) while Kenny Chesney’s “Greatest Hits II” falls three rungs to No. 6 with 43,000 (down 51%). Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” hops forward two slots to No. 9 with 33,000 (up 3%), and Rascal Flatts’ “Unstoppable” rises from No. 12 to No. 10 with 27,000 (up 3%).
The Billboard 200 Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| 1 | 1 | EMINEM Relapse (Web / Shady / Aftermath / Interscope / IGA) | *11 | New | MONTGOMERY GENTRY For Our Heroes ( Cracker Barrel) |
| 2 | 2 | GREEN DAY 21st Century Breakdown (Reprise / Warner Bros.) | 12 | 4 | DANE COOK ISolated INcident (Comedy Central ) |
| 3 | 6 | SOUNDTRACK Hannah Montana: The Movie (Walt Disney ) | 13 | 15 | NICKELBACK Dark Horse (Roadrunner ) |
| *4 | New | MARILYN MANSON The High End Of Low (Interscope / IGA) | *14 | 18 | ZAC BROWN BAND The Foundation (Roar / Big Picture / Home Grown / Atlantic / AG) |
| *5 | 8 | LADY GAGA The Fame (Streamline / KonLive / Cherrytree / Interscope / IGA) | *15 | 21 | KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night (RCA / RMG) |
| 6 | 3 | KENNY CHESNEY Greatest Hits II (BNA / SMN) | *16 | 27 | KEITH URBAN Defying Gravity (Capitol Nashville ) |
| *7 | New | WISIN & YANDEL La Revolucion (WY / Machete ) | 17 | 19 | SOUNDTRACK Twilight (Summit / Chop Shop / Atlantic / AG) |
| *8 | New | GRIZZLY BEAR Veckatimest (Warp ) | 18 | 7 | METHOD MAN & REDMAN Blackout! 2 (Wu-Tang / Def Squad / Def Jam / IDJMG) |
| *9 | 11 | TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless (Big Machine ) | 19 | 16 | VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW 30 (Universal / EMI / Sony Music / Zomba / UMe) |
| 10 | 12 | RASCAL FLATTS Unstoppable (Lyric Street ) | 20 | 23 | JASON ALDEAN Wide Open (Broken Bow ) |
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
MARKET WATCH
• Album units, current chart week: 5.6 million units
• DOWN 12.4% from last week’s charts: 6.6 million units
• DOWN 20.4% from same week, 2008: 7.2 million units
• This week: Only the No. 1 album sells more than 100,000 copies.
• This week last year on The Billboard 200: Usher’s “Here I Stand” stood up in its debut week at No. 1 with 443,000 while the “Sex and the City” soundtrack started in the runner-up slot with 66,000. Al Green’s “Lay It Down” was the lone other entry in the top 10, coming in at No. 9 with 34,000.
BORDERLINES
• The No. 10 album this week, Rascal Flatts’ “Unstoppable” (Lyric Street), sold 27,000.
• The No. 10 album for the same week of 2008, Death Cab for Cutie’s “Narrow Stairs” (Atlantic), sold 33,000.
• Average total of the No. 10 album for the same week of the year during the past 10 years (2000-2009): 58,645.
PROGRESS REPORTS
• In the wake of the eighth-season finale of “American Idol,” several alumni shine on our various radio charts this week. Kelly Clarkson collects her ninth Mainstream Top 40 top 10 hit, as “I Do Not Hook Up” rises 11-8. The song is the original “Idol” queen’s ninth top 10; only 10 artists can boast at least that many top 10s this decade . . . At No. 35, 2007 “Idol” winner Jordin Sparks bows with “Battlefield,” the title cut from her forthcoming second album, due July 21 . . . On the Adult Top 40 chart, 2005 fourth-place finalist Chris Daughtry leads his namesake band 19-15 with “No Surprise.” On the Adult Contemporary tally, new “Idol” champion Kris Allen rises 27-26 with his victory song “No Boundaries,” while seventh-season contestant Michael Johns bullets at No. 27 with “Heart on My Sleeve.”
• Crossover country queen Taylor Swift scores her eighth top 10 on the Hot Country Songs chart, just 30 months after her first (“Tim McGraw,” December 2006), as “You Belong With Me” shoots 13-10. The song’s new rank marks the quickest accumulation of eight top 10s by a female artist since Wynonna (21 months, 1992-93). Following-up his record 44th Country No. 1, George Strait roars in with Hot Shot Debut accolades at No. 34 with “Living for the Night.” “Living” previews Strait’s next set, “Twang,” due this fall.
• Speaking of Wynonna, the country veteran enters the Hot Dance Club Play chart at No. 36 with “Sing,” courtesy of dance mixes serviced to club DJs. The tune—which was overhauled by such producers as Jody Den Broeder, Pete Hammond and the Almighty team—is Wynonna’s first Club chart hit.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Among the albums released this week, due on next week’s charts: Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King,” Rancid’s “Let the Dominoes Fall,” the New Broadway cast recording of “West Side Story,” 311’s “Uplifter,” Taking Back Sunday’s “New Again,” Diane Birch’s “Bible Belt,” Eros Ramazzotti’s “Ali E Radici” and the eight-CD Neil Young boxed set “Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972.”
• Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2008 when: Disturbed’s “Indestructible” blasted onto the tally at No. 1 with 253,000 while the “Now 28” compilation started at No. 2 with 185,000. The previous week’s No. 1, Usher’s “Here I Stand,” fell to No. 3 with 145,000 (down 67%).