Bon Jovi, Jay-Z And Alicia Keys Control The Charts

Robbie Daw | November 18, 2009 11:37 am

Bon Jovi bumped Carrie Underwood down and rocked their way to the top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with The Circle in a week that is pretty much the calm before the high-profile release storm. But—yeeowch!—the 163,000 copies the New Jersey band moved over the seven days sales were tracked is quite a dip from the 292,000 their last set, Lost Highway, did.

Alt rock act Flyleaf also debuted in the Top 10 (#8) with Memento Mori, but, really, all eyes are clearly looking ahead to next week’s chart battle between Kris Allen, Justin Bieber, Leona Lewis, Katy Perry, 50 Cent, John Mayer, Norah Jones and OneRepublic. (And, in a perfect world, Annie’s Don’t Stop would factor into that mix, too!)

Meanwhile, the gauntlet appears to have already been thrown down by Canadian pop munchkin Bieber, based on this classy tweet he launched over to John Mayer:

…congrats on your new album but me and my ladies are gunning for that #1 spot on itunes. lol. maybe we can jam one day”

Bieber-mania aside, it looks like Mayer will take #1 by a landslide, with sales expected to total 275-300k copies, according to the early projections from Hits magazine.

Elsewhere on this week’s chart, though, the Alicia Keys machine continues to steamroll its way over the pop landscape. Billboard also reports that Jay-Z and Keys have simultaneously landed their fourth #1 singles on the Hot 100 with “Empire State Of Mind.” The full tally won’t be released until tomorrow.

The Top 10 of Billboard‘s Top 200 Albums:

1. Bon Jovi, The Circle *new* 2. Andrea Bocelli, My Christmas 3. Carrie Underwood, Play On 4. Michael Jackson, This Is It 5. Taylor Swift, Fearless 6. Various, Now 32 7. Michael Buble, Crazy Love 8. Flyleaf, Memento Mori *new* 9. Various, Glee: The Music, Volume 1 10. Various, The Twilight Saga: New Moon