That was fairly innocuous as far as groan-inducing puns go, right? Anyway, Boston-based hard rock band Godsmack lead off the Billboard 200 Album chart this week, selling 117,000 copies of their latest album, “Oracle”. I don’t really have much to say about this development. They’re a pretty popular band so a #1 debut isn’t unexpected. My only real experience with the band was seeing them last summer at Crue Fest (from, like, the second row), and being really impressed by […]
Chartstalker 4/30/10: Positively "Glee"-Ful
WordPress tells me that my top search term of the day is “Chelsea Lately Sex Tape”. This is weird, because I don’t think I’ve ever written about Chelsea Lately or a sex tape. Anyway, I’m gonna use that as a tag just to see how many more hits I get. However, this column isn’t about search results, either! It’s about the Billboard charts and the fact that the “Glee: Power of Madonna” album enters the Album chart at #1, selling […]
Monday Morning Musings: KG, The ACMs & The Gentlemen's Bet
Welcome to the working week, dear readers. Having officially recovered from Record Store Day (well, I personally have recovered. My debit card hasn’t), I am awake and ready to face another Monday. The NBA playoffs are already underway. While I, like most sane basketball fans, fully expects a Lakers/Cavs final, there’s always interesting stuff happening before the big dance. The big news so far is that Celtics forward/extraterrestrial Kevin Garnett has been suspended for Game 2 in their series against […]
Chartstalker 3/26/10: All Good Things…
In an industry starved for good news, the fact that at least one album had sold over 100,000 copies in every week of 2010 was a ray of sunshine. However, this week, the streak comes to an end. Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” tops the Billboard album chart with 93,000 copies. Granted, that total is pretty solid for an album that is now in it’s eighth chart week-but still, it’s not six figures. Thankfully, there will be at least three […]
Chartstalker 3/10/10: Who the Hell is Taio Cruz?
I’ll get to the albums chart in a minute, but I must first register my surprise at this week’s new #1 single. British newcomer Taio Cruz jumps from #53 to #1 on the Hot 100 with his new single “Break Your Heart”, which features Ludacris (who will now have an impressive three songs in the Top Ten). I’ll admit that even as I write this, I haven’t heard the song yet (bad reporting, I know…but I have the Broken Bells […]
Chartstalker 3/3/10: S.O.S.
Another week without a major new release leaves this week’s Billboard Album Chart looking a lot like last week’s Billboard Album chart. Sade makes it a hat trick, as “Soldier of Love” hangs at #1 yet again, selling another 127,000 copies. After three weeks, “Soldier” is already the year’s second best selling albums. Right in front of it? The album that appears right behind it on this week’s chart-Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now”. The country trio sells another 118,000 copies […]
Chartstalker: 2/18/10
Valentine’s Day & Sade? Can’t beat that combination. Wanna know how I figured that out? Well, according to this week’s Billboard albums chart, the venerable British band debuts on top, selling an amazing 502,000 copies of “Soldier of Love”, their first album in just under a decade. 2010 has just charted, but it’s easily the best first week for an album this year, and will probably retain that statistic for a while to come. Sade’s success speaks very strongly to […]