Guess what type of music people are still buying? Ding Ding Ding!! Country music! Kenny Chesney becomes the second straight country act to debut at #1 on the national Billboard charts. His latest effort, “Hemingway’s Whiskey”, starts with 183,000 units. It replaces Zac Brown Band’s “You Get What You Give” at the top of the chart. The Grammy winning band’s sophomore effort slides two spots to #3 this week.
Guess what other type of music people are apparently still buying? Hip-Hop! While I certainly wish the genre had a better representation than this, Lil Wayne starts off at #2 with “I Am Not a Human Being”. The digital-only release scans 110,000 units to claim the runner-up spot on the main chart and the top spot on the R&B chart. Jumping from currently imprisoned emcee to formerly imprisoned emcee, Gucci Mane starts off at #4 with his latest album, “The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted”. The Top Five is anchored by Eminem, who jumps one spot to #5 this week with “Recovery”. Speaking of hip-hop and incarceration, New Orleans rapper Lil Boosie starts off at #13 with the album “Incarcerated”. Guess what? He’s in jail.
The chart is littered with new arrivals this week. 20 of the top 50 albums are new to the chart. The rest of the debuts in the Top 20 include Eric Clapton (#6), Jimmy Eat World (#11), Lil Boosie (#13), Neil Young (#14), Lecrae (#17), and Trent Reznor’s “Social Network” score at #20.
A few veteran artists score chart misses with their latest efforts. Ice Cube’s “I Am the West” gets off to a middling start at #22, while Seal and Phil Collins face serious public apathy towards their new releases. The British pop stars see their latest efforts-“Commitment” and “Going Back”, respectively, start at #31 and #34, respectively. However, Phil probably isn’t crying into his beer too much, seeing as “Going Back” is the top-selling album across Europe. Maybe they should take some hints from Justin Bieber-whose “My World 2.0” falls out of the Top 10…after 27 consecutive weeks, an amazing feat in this day and age.
Next week…uh, things ain’t looking so good. It’s highly doubtful that any album will cross the 100,000 unit threshold. Toby Keith is looking to hold the week’s highest debut with between 70,000-80,000 units. So, depending on how much Chesney’s sales fall off, we could be looking at a very low total for next week’s chart topper. So goes the music industry, right?
Here are this week’s Top 20 albums:
1-“Hemingway’s Whiskey” Kenny Chesney
2-“I Am Not a Human Being” Lil Wayne
3-“You Get What You Give” Zac Brown Band
4-“The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted” Gucci Mane
5-“Recovery” Eminem
6-“Clapton” Eric Clapton
7-“Passion, Pain & Pleasure” Trey Songz
8-“A Thousand Suns” Linkin Park
9-“Hands All Over” Maroon 5
10-“A Year Without Rain” Selena Gomez & the Scene
11-“Invented” Jimmy Eat World
12-“Wake Up!” John Legend & the Roots
13-“Incarcerated” Lil Boosie
14-“Le Noise” Neil Young
15-“My World 2.0” Justin Bieber
16-“Guitar Heaven” Santana
17-“Rehab” Lecrae
18-“Teenage Dream” Katy Perry
19-“Now That’s What I Call Music 35” Various Artists
20-“Social Network Score” Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
4 comments
GG says:
Oct 8, 2010
Yet another week in which Dr. Dre’s album doesn’t come out again.
blerd says:
Oct 9, 2010
I think there are gonna be a lot of weeks like that, bro. A lot of weeks.
GG says:
Oct 12, 2010
Is forever a lot of weeks?
blerd says:
Oct 12, 2010
Yes. Forever is, in fact, a lot of weeks.