The holiday shopping season is upon us and the music biz is finally perking up with 8 new debuts in the top ten of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. However, it was a holdover that grabbed #1 as Susan Boyle’s seasonal collection, The Gift, stayed on top and actually increased its sales to 335,000 copies in week two. She held off a shockingly strong performance from another TV bred star, ten-year old Jackie Evancho of America’s Got Talent, whose holiday opera debut landed in the runner-up spot besting Rihanna‘s Loud which actually gave the pop star her biggest first week sales to date. Rihanna also has the new # 1 single in the country this week with “Only Girl in the World” which hits the summit just two weeks after her other song “What’s My Name?’ began its run on top.
Back on the album chart, Josh Groban, Kid Rock, The Glee Christmas album, Rascal Flats, Keith Urban and Nelly all made it into the top ten with the only other stalwart being Taylor Swift who hung on at # 9. Watch for strong sales for most of those releases throughout the holiday season particularly Groban and Boyle… It wasn’t good news for the latest American Idol winner, Lee Dewyze, though whose first album Live It Up tanked landing at # 19 with a paltry 39,000 for the lowest first week sales of any Idol winner or runner-up in the show’s history. Perhaps the more deserving singer he beat Crystal Bowersox will have stronger sales power with her debut in a few weeks. Stay tuned…
Here’s this week’s top Ten albums:
1. Susan Boyle- The Gift (lw~ 1)
2. Jackie Evancho- O Holy Night (debut)
3. Rihanna- Loud (debut)
4. Josh Groban- Illuminations (debut)
5. Kid Rock- Born Free (debut)
6. Rascal Flatts- Nothing Like This (debut)
7. Keith Urban- Get Closer (debut)
8. Glee- The Christmas Album (debut)
9. Taylor Swift- Speak Now (lw~ 2)
10. Nelly- 5.0 (debut)
Back over on the singles chart, the Glee cast made more big news with “Forget You” featuring Gwyneth Paltrow which debuted at # 1 on the digital singles sales chart. That was the second # 1 in a row on the chart for the show which hit the top last week with “Teenage Dream”. The later single debuted at # 8 on the Hot 100 as well, but “Forget You” just misses the top ten debuting at # 11. The original version original version of that song “F*%k You (Forget You)” by Cee -Lo does grab a spot in the top ten though spurred on by the attention from the hit show to zoom up to # 9.
Here’s this week’s top ten songs:
1. “Only Girl in the World”- Rihanna (lw~ 2)
2. “Raise Your Glass”- Pink (lw~ 4)
3. “Like a G6”- Far East Movement (lw~ 1)
4. “We R Who We R”- Ke$ha (lw~ 6)
5. “Just a Dream”- Nelly (lw~ 5)
6. “Firework”- Katy Perry (lw~ 9)
7. “Just the Way You Are”- Bruno Mars (lw~ 3)
8. “What’s My Name?”- Rihanna w/Drake (lw~ 7)
9. “F#%k You (Forget You)”- Cee-Lo (lw~ 19)
10. “Bottoms Up”- Trey Songz (lw~ 10)
With Rihanna’s latest # 1, she now has a total of 9 chart toppers and that means she has more # 1′s than any other artist this decade. Pretty shocking, huh? Here’s a list of Rihanna’s # 1′s below.
Rihanna’s #1 songs (the most in the 2000′s by any artist):
“S.O.S.”
“Umbrella” with Jay Z
“Take A Bow”
“Disturbia”
“Live Your Life” with T.I.
“Rude Boy”
“Love the Way You Lie” with Eminem
“What’s My Name?” with Drake
“Only Girl in the World”
~and is it me or is it also shocking that “Don’t Stop the Music” didnt’ hit the top of the Hot 100? It peaked at # 3.
The lastl big chart news of the week belongs to The Beatles who finally made all their albums and singles available to iTunes. After just one week out, the supergroup sold over 450,000 albums worldwide and over 2 million singles. Looks like good music will always thrive. For more on all your chart needs, head to Billboard here.
And here’s your # 1 song in the country, Rihanna’s “Only Girl in the World”
