Still getting back into the swing of things after being away for most of the week. Here’s what’s going on in the world of the Billboard album charts. Last week marked the second week in 2010 when no album managed to reach the 100,000 mark in sales. Justin Bieber’s “My World 2.0” notches a third non-consecutive week at the #1 position, selling another 92,000 copies. Things go into freefall from there, as the #2 album, MGMT’s sophomore effort “Congratulations” only […]
Chartstalker 4/15/10: Filing Taxes Would Be More Exciting
After all the Justin Bieber and Usher-related excitement of the past two weeks, things on the Billboard album charts have slowed back down to a crawl. Thanks in part to his performance on “SNL” this past weekend, Mr. Bieber jumps back into the #1 slot with “My World 2.0”. It scans 102,000 copies this week, giving Justin a three-week total of 675,000. Not too shabby. Meanwhile, his mentor slides into the runner-up spot with “Raymond vs. Raymond”, which drops a […]
Blerd Radio Episode 1: Livin' La Vida Loca
While MisenPOPic Radio is on hiatus (congrats to my homie and co-host Mikey Hersh on the birth of his daughter), I decided to come up with my own podcast. It’s a little looser and I decided to go with the host-and-two-guests format rather than just the two co-hosts. Thus, Blerd Radio was born. While me and my boy GG did a quickie test episode last week, “Livin’ La Vida Loca” is the first real episode, and it again features GG as well as my girl […]
Chartstalker 4/7/10: Usher & The Bieb
That sounds like a sitcom. Or a cartoon. Like “Pinky & the Brain”. Right? Anyway, Usher scores his third consecutive #1 debut. “Raymond vs. Raymond” enters the Billboard 200 Albums chart at the top, with 329,000 copies sold. It’s the third highest debut of the year, behind Sade and Lady Antebellum. However, it’s also about 100,000 copies less than Usher’s last album, “Here I Stand”, started with in 2008. This number was juiced by a number of factors including a […]
Chartstalker 3/31/10: Bieber Fever
Hey, that almost rhymes, right? As expected, teen idol Justin Bieber opens up at the top of the Billboard album charts with “My World 2.0”. The 16 year old Canuck starts with 283,000 copies. He is the youngest male artist to top the Billboard album charts since Stevie Wonder back in 1963. Pretty damn impressive, if you ask me. The top 3 albums this week are all debuts. Former teen idol Monica takes the runner up spot with her fifth […]
The Bird & the Bee's Tribute to the Masters of Blue-Eyed Soul
I generally turn my nose at covers albums. I can’t even remember the last one that I actually liked. The new project from the Bird & the Bee, though, is interesting enough that I’m willing to temporarily lift my ban on entire albums of remakes. The dream-pop duo from Los Angeles is releasing “Interpreting the Masters; A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates” today. Yes, you read that correctly. Not too many years after H2O’s own somewhat ill-advised covers […]
Chartstalker 3/17/10: It's Ludacris!
(now say that in a Mike Tyson voice. That’s what I was going for.) This week’s Billboard album chart is led by a pair of new entries. Atlanta rapper Ludacris bows on top with his latest album, “Battle of the Sexes”. Bolstered by the hits “How Low” and “My Chick Bad”, Luda scans 137,000 units in his opening salvo. If that number sounds a little low, well, it is. Luda’s last album, “Theater of the Mind” opened with 213,000 units […]
Timberlake and Bieber: Revenge of the Justins
I was listening to “Innervisions” by Stevie Wonder yesterday. Stevie was 23 when that album was released. Thinking back on all my life experience, it’s pretty impressive that someone was able to put out such a work of genius at such a relatively young age. Then I thought more, and realized that maybe that was not so unusual: after all, the Beatles were all still in their twenties when they broke up in 1970. George Michael’s “Listen Without Prejudice” came […]