Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” spends a seventh week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 . . . Can you name the last album to spend as many weeks at the top? . . . The first top 10 debut of the year comes in the form of the soundtrack to “Notorious,” while the “Now That’s What I Call Music!” compilation series finds a new theme . . . In Progress Reports, we have updates on a new No. 1 single from Alan Jackson, a top 10 hit from Airborne Toxic Event and the continuing reign of dance diva Donna Summer.
FLASH POINTS
• For the first time since 2004, an album spends a seventh week atop the Billboard 200, as Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” hangs in the penthouse yet another week. The last album to notch seven frames at No. 1 was Usher’s “Confessions,” which strung together nine nonconsecutive chart-topping weeks.
• The first top 10 debut of the year comes from the soundtrack to the Notorious B.I.G. biopic, appropriately named “Notorious” (No. 4 with 43,000). It’s the fifth soundtrack to debut in the top five of the chart during the past year, joining “Sex and the City” (No. 2), “Camp Rock” (No. 3), “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” (No. 2) and “Twilight” (No. 1) . . . On the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, “Notorious” debuts at No. 1, the first soundtrack to bow atop the list since “Bad Boys II” in November 2002 and the first soundtrack to be No. 1 since “Dreamgirls” climbed to the top in January 2007.
• The next-highest debut on the Billboard 200 comes from the long-running “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation series, this time celebrating the 50-year history of Motown Records. “Now That’s What I Call Motown” starts at No. 13 with 23,000 and at No. 12 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums . . . On the Top Compilation Albums chart, “Motown” lands at No. 2, stuck behind the “Now 29” set.
• David Cook and the soundtrack to “Slumdog Millionaire” make big gains in the top 20 of the chart this week. The former likely owes a 58% increase for his self-titled album to the Jan. 13 premiere of the new season of “American Idol.” Cook’s song “A Daily Anthem” was showcased in the broadcast. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s the reining “Idol” champ . .. The “Slumdog” soundtrack continues its upward climb, zooming from No. 55 to No. 16 with 20,000 and a 116% increase.
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The Billboard 200 Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan |
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| 1 | 1 | TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless (Big Machine ) | 11 | 9 | VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW 29 (Universal / EMI / Sony Music / Zomba / UMe) |
| 2 | 4 | BEYONCE I Am…Sasha Fierce (Music World / Columbia / Sony Music) | 12 | 10 | AKON Freedom (Konvict / Upfront / SRC / Universal Motown / UMRG) |
| 3 | 2 | NICKELBACK Dark Horse (Roadrunner ) | *13 | New | VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That’s What I Call Motown (Universal Motown / EMI / Sony Music / UMe) |
| *4 | New | SOUNDTRACK Notorious (Fox / Bad Boy / AG) | 14 | 12 | PINK Funhouse (LaFace / JLG) |
| 5 | 3 | KANYE WEST 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam / IDJMG) | 15 | 11 | SOUNDTRACK Mamma Mia! (Decca ) |
| 6 | 5 | SOUNDTRACK Twilight (Summit / Chop Shop / Atlantic / AG) | *16 | 55 | SOUNDTRACK Slumdog Millionaire (Interscope / IGA) |
| 7 | 6 | BRITNEY SPEARS Circus (Jive / JLG) | 17 | 13 | T.I. Paper Trail (Grand Hustle / Atlantic / AG) |
| 8 | 8 | JAMIE FOXX Intuition (J / RMG) | 18 | 14 | LADY GAGA The Fame (Streamline / KonLive / Cherrytree / Interscope / IGA) |
| 9 | 7 | KEYSHIA COLE A Different Me (Imani / Geffen / IGA) | *19 | New | THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND Already Free (Victor / Sony Music) |
| *10 | 18 | DAVID COOK David Cook (19 / RCA / RMG) | 20 | 19 | RIHANNA Good Girl Gone Bad (SRP / Def Jam / IDJMG) |
| * indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week | |||||
MARKET WATCH
• Album units, current chart week: 5.9 million units
• DOWN 5.7% from last issue’s charts: 6.3 million units
• DOWN 15.4% from same week, 2008: 7 million units
• This week: No albums sell more than 100,000 copies.
• This week last year on the Billboard 200: Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” held at No. 1 with 61,000 (down 14%). Raheem Davaughn’s “Love Behind the Melody” was the chart’s highest debut at No. 5, with 45,000 while John Legend’s Target-exclusive “Live in Philadelphia” started at No. 7 with 33,000.
BORDERLINES
• The No. 20 album this week, Rihanna’s “Good Girl Gone Bad” (SRP/Def Jam/IDJMG), sold 17,000.
• The No. 20 album for the same week of 2008, Daughtry’s “Daughtry” (RCA/RMG), sold 19,000.
• Average total of the No. 20 album for the same week of the year during the past 10 years (2000-2009): 35,637.
PROGRESS REPORTS
• Alan Jackson matches George Strait for the most No. 1s on the Hot Country Songs chart since the tally began using Nielsen BDS data in January 1990, as “Country Boy” leaps 5-1. The track is Jackson’s 25th No. 1. All of his chart-toppers have been released since 1990. Strait registered his 25th leader in that same span of time when “I Saw God Today” reached the top last April. He’s notched a chart-record 43 No. 1s overall dating to 1982.
• The Airborne Toxic Event reaches the Modern Rock top 10 its first time out, as “Sometime Around Midnight” rises 11-9 in its 24th week, the fourth-longest climb to the top 10 in the chart’s 20-year history. The track’s top 10 journey is the lengthiest since Rise Against’s “The Good Left Undone” scaled the top 10 in its 30th week exactly a year ago. Muse’s “Hysteria (I Want It Now)” (2005) and Sick Puppies’ “All the Same” (2007) required 25 weeks.
• Donna Summer notches her lucky 13th No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart with “Fame (The Game),” the third straight chart-topper from her “Crayons” set. The diva’s first No. 1 on Club Play came with “Four Seasons of Love” in 1976.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Among the titles released this week, due on next week’s charts: Mariah Carey’s “The Ballads,” Antony and the Johnsons’ “The Crying Light,” Jane Monheit’s “The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me” and Reel Big Fish’s “Fame, Fortune and Fornication.”
• Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2008 when: The soundtrack to “Juno” hit No. 1 for the first time, shifting 65,000 with a 13% gain in sales. Two steps below, at No. 3, Natasha Bedingfield bowed with “Pocketful of Sunshine” (50,000).