Mariah Carey Gets Touched By 463,000 Record Buyers

noah | April 23, 2008 2:00 am
eequalsmariah.jpg

Mariah Carey pulled in her highest sales week and the highest sales week of 2008 during the first week that E=MC2 was on shelves, but her tally didn’t break the half-million mark; the album sold 463,000 copies, outpacing the first-week sales of Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through The Static by about 90,000.

Biggest Debuts: The new country band Lady Antebellum entered the big chart at No. 4 and the Country Albums chart at No. 1, with their self-titled debut selling 43,000 copies. Meanwhile, Thrice’s Vol. 3-4: The Alchemy Index and Rush’s Snakes & Arrows Live each sold 21,000 copies in their opening weeks, with Thrice coming in at No. 17 on the big board and Rush entering at No. 18.

Notable Jumps: Even though I found her completely irritating and smug when she was co-hosting last week’s CMT Awards, Miley Cyrus’ TV appearance spurred a big jump in sales of her live album (which she shares credit on with her alter ego, Hannah Montana). The Best Of Both Worlds Concert had a 162% sales leap and sold 47,000 copies, which was enough for it to land at No. 3 for the week. Other post-CMT Awards bumps were much more modest: Taylor Swift hopped 13% (26,000 sold, No. 10), Sugarland’s Enjoy The Ride inched up 16% (12,000 sold, No. 47), and Leann Rimes’ Family reappeared on the chart at No. 178 (4,000 sold, up 22%). And despite taking away three awards during the evening, Kellie Pickler’s sales didn’t jump enough to bring her back to the top 200 albums chart.

Dropping Off: Leona Lewis’ Spirit was off 54%, but thanks to yet another weak sales week (seriously, I should get a macro for this), her 95,000-copy tally was enough for her to take the No. 2 spot.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Every week that the Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack is in the top 10 is yet another week that I shake my head and despair for the future of this world. (It’s at No. 7 this week, having sold 32,000 copies–which means that it’s sold only 623,000 so far. Why does it seem like it’s been around so much longer?)

The top 20, with sales totals in parentheses: 1. Mariah Carey, E=MC2 (463,000) 2. Leona Lewis, Spirit (95,000) 3. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, The Best Of Both Worlds Concert (47,000) 4. Lady Antebellum (43,000) 5. Now 27 (39,000) 6. George Strait, Troubadour (38,000) 7. Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack (32,000) 8. Juno soundtrack (31,000) 9. R.E.M., Accelerate (30,000) 10. Taylor Swift (30,000) 11. Rick Ross, Trilla (27,000) 12. James Otto, Sunset Man (26,000) 13. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static (25,000) 14. Danity Kane, Welcome To The Dollhouse (23,000) 15. Daughtry (23,000) 16. Jordin Sparks (23,000) 17. Thrice, Vol. 3-4: The Alchemy Index (21,000) 18. Rush, Snakes & Arrows Live (21,000) 19. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice (20,000) 20. Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple (20,000)

Tags: