By debuting at #1 with Duets II, legendary crooner Tony Bennett sets a record-becoming the oldest living artist to score a number one album on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. At age 85, it’s hard to imagine anyone eclipsing that record anytime soon. Somewhat surprisingly, Duets II is also Bennett’s first-ever Number One album. You gotta love not only Bennett’s staying power, but also the fact that an artist like him, with no MTV or radio support, no publicity scandal or […]
Posts tagged "Billboard charts"
Chart Stalker 9/15/11: Strait to…#3?
A country superstar he may be, but the legendary George Strait couldn’t topple Lil Wayne or Adele from their perches at the top of the Billboard album charts this week. His Here For A Good Time makes a pretty respectable debut with 91,000 units sold, but lands at #3 on the list, behind Weezy’s 219,000 (a pretty steep dropoff in The Carter IV‘s second week…blame it on bad word of mouth) and Adele’s 121,000. Adele’s numbers continue to be mind-blowing. […]
Chart Stalker 9/8/11: Weezy Reigns Supreme
Lil Wayne does it again. The pint-sized rapper has just rung up the second-biggest sales week of 2011 so far with his latest effort, Tha Carter IV. Ringing in with 964,000 copies sold, Weezy comes just a hair’s breadth away from matching the first week sales of his chart-topping magnum opus (and last *proper* album), Tha Carter III. How big is this number? Well, if the year was to end today, Wayne would have the fifth biggest selling album of […]
Chart Stalker: Throne Maintained; Weezy & Drake’s Domination
This week’s Billboard album chart has a familiar ring to it: Jay-Z and Kanye West hold the #1 spot for a second week with Watch The Throne. Featuring the hit single “Otis”, the hip-hop superstar summit rings up another 177,000 units in sales this week. It sells more than double the quantity of the week’s #2 album, which is–looky looky–Adele’s 21. Now riding the wave of a second hit single (“Someone Like You” hits the Top 40 this week), Adele’s […]
Chart Stalker 8/19/11: Are We Already Out of Throne Jokes?
Surprising no one, Jay-Z and Kanye West debut at the top of Billboard’s album charts this week with Watch The Throne. The highly anticipated wap cowabbowation (sorry, that was my RZA voice) scores 2011’s second-biggest first week, after Lady GaGa’s Born This Way (which is still holding on at #18). Unlike GaGa, Jay and ‘Ye didn’t benefit from special pricing at a digital account. Actually, it could be argued that Throne was a limited release. It was available for half […]
Chart Stalker 8/11/11: Spirit of ’75
Yet another boring week on the Billboard album charts. Adele spends a 12th week at the top of the charts with 21, although she only needed to sell 70,000 albums to do it. Country star Trace Adkins and singer/songwriter type Mat Kearney debut in the Top Five. The biggest news comes from hipster-pop band Foster the People, as their debut album, Torches, jumps into the Top 20 and “Pumped Up Kicks” looks to be one of the year’s surprise hits. […]
Chart Stalker 8/3/11: Who is Eric Church?
Simple answer: he’s the guy with the #1 album in the country right now. The North Carolina-bred country singer has scored two top 10 albums prior to the release of his latest album, Chief. Talk about truth in titles, Church finds himself the chief of the charts right now, moving 145,000 units and topping the country list as well as the overall Billboard 200. His previous album, Carolina, benefits from the release of the new album as well. The album […]
Chart Stalker 7/20/11: Blake’s “Red River” Floats to the Top
Last week’s chart was so boring we went back into the wayback machine and rolled into 1991. Now it’s back to the present, and a chart that finds six new albums in the Top Ten, led by a country star and reality show judge. The most tangible (and immediate) success story from “The Voice” has to be Blake Shelton’s. The country singer scores his first ever chart-topper with Red River Blue. Blake is the first of the show’s judges (or […]
Chart Stalker 7/6/11: At the Halfway Point
First things first: this week’s chart brings good news and bad news. First-the good news. Beyonce acquits herself well with a chart-topping entry for 4. The R&B songstress’s latest effort starts at #1 on the pop and R&B album charts with 310,000 units. While it’s a little lower than the numbers that have greeted past efforts, if anyone considers a total north of 300,000 copies to be a failure or a disappointment, they’re seriously delusional. Bey is the biggest of […]
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 […]
Chart Stalker 6/23/11: Bad Meets Evil and Tops the Charts
Eminem has returned to the top of the Billboard album charts, and he’s brought his homeboy Royce Da 5’9 along with him. Teaming up as Bad Meets Evil, the duo debuts at #1 with Hell: The Sequel. 171,000 people bought the album; not fantastic numbers for a title Eminem-affiliated, but this album comes without the pop cachet that his solo albums generally have. In other words, this is something for the hip-hop heads. So a chart-topping debut is still impressive. […]
