Can we wrap up the Grammy Album of the Year category now? Adele’s 21 has been virtually carrying the music industry this year, and it returns to #1 this week. Sales of the British vocalist’s sophomore album increase 65% this week to an impressive 153,000 copies. For an album that’s already been out for over two months, that’s a pretty solid number.
Adele’s total is almost double the quantity sold of the #2 album. The latest album from the “Glee” cast, Glee Music Presents: The Warblers, starts off with 86,000 copies. In a very quiet week for new releases, it’s one of only three albums that start in the Top 100. The only other albums that start in the upper half of the chart are Gorillaz’ Fall (which starts at #24 with a so-so 21K) and Winds of Plague (I don’t know who they are either), who debut at #60 with Against the World.
Folks still apparently buy CDs as Easter presents, and most albums show increases in sales over the previous week. The biggest beneficiaries, unsurprisingly, are albums with kid appeal. Two Justin Bieber albums jump back into the Top 20: Never Say Never-The Remixes vaults from 22-10 with an 85% increase in sales, and My World 2.0 skips 21-19 on a more modest 23% increase. The biggest jump, however, goes to Disney’s Lemonade Mouth soundtrack. The latest kids’ sensation soars from #18 to #4 on a 222% increase in sales. Can’t stop the Mouse.
Over on the digital downloads chart, things aren’t looking as rosy for Lady GaGa or Beyonce. GaGa’s “Judas” was expected to make a big jump in it’s second week out, but instead slides 4-6 on a 4% decrease. This was it’s first full week of sales-perhaps the video’s premiere on “American Idol” tonight will energize sales a little bit? Or maybe people are starting to get tired of GaGa? Meanwhile, Beyonce’s much-ballyhooed “Run the World (Girls)” starts at a middling #23, shifting just under 77,000 downloads. By comparison, that’s about half of what “Judas” started with, and both titles were out for only three days in their first tracking week. Of course, the Beyonce publicity machine hasn’t fully left the ground yet, and there’s sure to be a mesmerizing video around the corner, so the slow start, while certainly unexpected, may not be the end for this record.
Next week, I’d expect Adele to rack up yet another week at #1 before a packed May schedule causes some ruckus on the charts. Check out the full Top 20 after the jump.
1) 21-Adele
2) Glee: The Music Presents The Warblers-Glee Cast
3) Wasting Light-Foo Fighters
4) Lemonade Mouth Soundtrack-Various Artists
5) Femme Fatale-Britney Spears
6) Paper Airplane-Allison Krauss & Union Station
7) Sigh No More-Mumford & Sons
8) So Beautiful or So What-Paul Simon
9) F.A.M.E.-Chris Brown
10) Never Say Never: The Remixes-Justin Bieber
11) Teenage Dream-Katy Perry
12) Rolling Papers-Wiz Khalifa
13) My Kinda Party-Jason Aldean
14) Now That’s What I Call Music 37-Various Artists
15) Songs for Japan-Various Artists
16) Loud-Rihanna
17) Speak Now-Taylor Swift
18) Doo Wops & Hooligans-Bruno Mars
19) My World 2.0-Justin Bieber
20) Greatest Hits So Far-P!nk