Big things happen when you drag pops and grandpa out to the record store. Check out this week’s Billboard album chart, and you’ll find Susan Boyle scoring another big debut. The owner of 2009’s biggest selling album looks to score a huge seller in 2010 with “The Gift”. The collection of new material and holiday classics scans 318,000 units, easily taking the top spot away from Taylor Swift. Not that Taylor’s doing too shabby. “Speak Now” adds another 212,000 copies to it’s total. In just three weeks, Taylor’s third album has sold nearly 1.6 million copies. It’s already 2010’s fourth biggest selling album.
As is typical for November, it’s a big week for debuts. Boyle is joined in the Top Ten by five other new releases. Kid Cudi opens at #3 with “Man on the Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager”. Cudi’s sophomore effort scans 169,000 copies just as his debut album steps just a few thousand copies away from the 500,000 mark. Cudi’s managed to score a fantastic first week despite not being able to come up with a single anywhere near as big as the two smashes from his debut-“Make Her Say” and “Day ‘n Nite”. He’s joined by the “Now 36” compilation at #4, Bon Jovi’s latest hits collection at #5, the new Reba McEntire at #7 and Cee-Lo Green’s “The Lady Killer” at #9. Three of the four holdovers in the Top Ten come from the country genre-aside from Swift, there’s Jason Aldean at #6 and Sugarland at #8. Lil Wayne rounds out the Top Ten at #10. The long line of debuts pushes Eminem’s “Recovery” out of the Top Ten for the first time in it’s 22-week history.
The Country Music Association awards were very, very good to many of the artists who performed, presented or won trophies on the show. Just about everyone who made an appearance on the ceremony shows an increase. Miranda Lambert’s year-old “Revolution” album posts a whopping 137% increase to land at #15 on the chart this week. Lambert took home awards for Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year at the ceremony. Coincidentally, her husband Blake Shelton debuts at #23 on this week’s chart with a Greatest Hits compilation.
Even with a deluge of new releases this week, Boyle is expected to hang on to the top spot on next week’s chart, with a total that will come close to matching the sum that was rung up in the debut week-quite impressive. The biggest debut will come out of virtually nowhere in the form of Jackie Evancho. The kid from “America’s Got Talent” is looking at a debut just south of 300K. Not too shabby. Actually, the chart as a whole will look a lot like one from a few years ago, in terms of who’s on it as well as the numbers. In addition to newcomers Boyle and Evancho, next week’s totals will come in at 150K+ for Rihanna, Josh Groban, Kid Rock and Rascal Flatts as well as the returning Taylor Swift. This will, of course, lead into what’s expected to be a hotly contested battle for the #1 during Thanksgiving week. We’ll be welcoming new albums from Kanye West and Nicki Minaj to the chart, as well as seeing what Boyle, Groban and Swift can come up with.
Here’s this week’s Top 20 albums:
1) “The Gift” Susan Boyle
2) “Speak Now” Taylor Swift
3) “Man on the Moon 2: The Legend of Mr. Rager” Kid Cudi
4) “Now That’s What I Call Music 36” Various Artists
5) “Greatest Hits” Bon Jovi
6) “My Kinda Party” Jason Aldean
7) “All The Women I Am” Reba McEntire
8) “The Incredible Machine” Sugarland
9) “The Lady Killer” Cee-Lo Green
10) “I Am Not a Human Being” Lil Wayne
11) “Recovery” Eminem
12) “Merry Christmas II You” Mariah Carey
13) “Need You Now” Lady Antebellum
14) “Come Around Sundown” Kings of Leon
15) “Revolution” Miranda Lambert
16) “Teenage Dream” Katy Perry
17) “ABIII” Alter Bridge
18) “Hemingway’s Whiskey” Kenny Chesney
19) “You Get What You Give” Zac Brown Band
20) “Hits Alive” Brad Paisley