Alicia Keys Is Fallin’ Into The Album Chart’s No. 1 Spot

noah | January 16, 2008 1:45 am
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Contrary to earlier reports, the Juno soundtrack did not take the up-the-pole position on this week’s album-sales charts–instead, the Moldy Peaches-stuffed album took the No. 3 slot, selling 68,000 copies. Instead, this week’s No. 1 was Alicia Keys’ As I Am, which sold 70,000 copies and backed into the top spot on a 38% sales dip; last week’s No. 1, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, had a 44% drop of its own and fell into the No. 2 slot.

Biggest Debuts: Sia’s some people have real problems (like eating markers) bowed at No. 26 with 20,000 albums sold; meanwhile, Kate Nash’s wordy-yet-gradually-endearing Made Of Bricks came in at No. 36, selling 16,000 copies. That’s it for debuts until No. 102, where the compilation Total Dance 2008, which brings together a lot of club mixes of last year’s hits, entered with 6,800 copies sold.

Notable Jumps: Only four of the albums in the top 100 experienced sales gains this week. Of those four, one was the result of a technicality (the Juno soundtrack’s weeklong gap between its digital release date and its physical release date); one was by a recently deceased artist (a Luciano Pavarotti greatest-hits collection); one experienced a 1% uptick (a Grammy tie-in comp); and one is an album that I can find absolutely no information on, despite it just squeaking into the top 100 with 6,800 scans. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what’s on the compilation Across The Pond?

Dropping Off: From Billboard: “Sales this week are down 20% from last week to 7.25 million units and are off 10% from the same week in 2007 (8.09 million).” That isn’t as bad as last week’s 37.5% plunge, but we should all be worried that a week where the one-week album sales total is equal to Nickelback’s 6.5 million-sale tally for All The Right Reasons may not be all that far off.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Fergie’s The Dutchess continued to hang tough in a depressed sales field, selling 28,000 copies. The Dutchess has now sold more than three million copies after looking like a flop in its earliest weeks on shelves. Maybe there’s hope for the retooled Songs About Girls yet!

The top 20, with sales totals in parentheses: 1. Alicia Keys, As I Am (70,000) 2. Radiohead, In Rainbows (69,000) 3. Juno soundtrack (68,000) 4. Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains (64,000) 5. Taylor Swift (35,000) 6. Now 26 (33,000) 7. Chris Brown, Exclusive (30,000) 8. Eagles, Long Road Out Of Eden (29,000) 9. Garth Brooks, Ultimate Hits (28,000) 10. Fergie, The Dutchess (28,000) 11. Colbie Caillat, Coco (27,000) 12. Keyshia Cole, Just Like You (27,000) 13. Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack (27,000) 14. OneRepublic, Dreaming Out Loud (26,000) 15. Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (26,000) 16. Sweeney Todd soundtrack (24,000) 17. Sugarland, Enjoy The Ride (23,000) 18. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice (23,000) 19. Daughtry (23,000) 20. Led Zeppelin, Mothership (22,000)

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