Chart Stalker 6/29/11: Jill Scott “Light”s Up the Chart with Her First #1

It took twelve years and four studio albums, but Jill Scott can finally lay claim to the #1 album in the country. The Light of the Sun, the singer/actress’s first album since emancipating herself from Hidden Beach, the label that’d guided her from her start, sells a solid 135,000 units to land at the apex of the Billboard chart.

This has been quite the estrogen-filled chart year, hasn’t it? The two biggest names at the top of the chart this year have been Adele (who holds at #3 this week) and Lady GaGa, who falls to #8 as Born This Way jumps over the 1.5 million sold mark. Jill tops the chart this week, and Beyonce will jump to the front of the line next week with 4. If you look at the top ten sellers of the year so far, you will find that 4 titles are by women (the aforementioned Adele and GaGa, plus Nicki Minaj and Rihanna). An additional four are by solo men (Jason Aldean, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown and Justin Bieber). One is by a band (Mumford & Sons) and one is a compilation (Now That’s What I Call Music 37). Looks pretty even until you look immediately down the list and realize that spots 11-14 are all taken by women (Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and P!nk.)

Back to this week’s chart-a collective fronted by a sensitive male-type makes a grand entrance at #2. Bon Iver’s Bon Iver, Bon Iver makes an impressive entry at #2 with 104,000 copies sold, a number that easily dwarfs their prior best first week and is nearly a full third of what their debut For Emma, Forever Ago, has sold to date. Thank lots of factors here: word of mouth, sizzling live performances and Kanye West.

A healthy crop of albums pop up in the Top 10 this week. In addition to Scott and Bon Iver, country newcomer Justin Moore jumps in at #5 with Outlaws Like Me, also topping the country albums list. Hip-pop sensation Pitbull starts at #7 with Planet Pit, while “Weird” Al Yankovic scores the highest chart position of his career with Alpocalypse, which starts at #9.

The “Didn’t You Used to Be a Hit” memorial award is a tie this week. Atlanta R&B group Jagged Edge have left the tutelage of Jermaine Dupri, but can only manage a middling #35 debut for their latest album, The Remedy. Meanwhile, Simple Plan-a band that pretty much ruled MTV for a portion of the TRL era, files in meekly at #52 with Get Your Heart On. They may not have lost their juvenile senses of humor, but it’s pretty safe to say they’ve lost quite a few fans.

Next week, in addition to Beyonce topping the charts (with a number that’s not astronomical, but in line with what Britney did earlier this year), we’ll have solid debuts from Kanye’s protege Big Sean as well as Biebs’ GF Selena Gomez. We’ll also take a look at the chart year as it reaches it’s official halfway point next week. Meanwhile, check out this week’s Top 20 after the jump.


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Chart Stalker 6/29/11: Jill Scott “Light”s Up the Chart with Her First #1

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