Week Ending Jan. 21, 2008: Keys Is #1 With 2nd Lowest Tally Ever

Posted Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:45am PST by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

Alicia Keys' As I Am registered the second worst weekly sales tally for a #1 album since SoundScan began monitoring album sales in 1991. Keys' album sold 60,519 copies last week, just 455 more copies than the all-time bottom-dweller, the Dreamgirls soundtrack, which sold 60,064 copies in its second week on top one year ago.

Keys' album has sold 2,786,000 copies in just 10 weeks, a tremendous total by any measure. So it's a little unfair that her name will be dragged through the mud as this news is disseminated. But that's show biz.

It's also noteworthy that five of this week's top 10 CDs this week are R&B-oriented. Keys is joined by Mary J. Blige at #3, Raheem DeVaughn at #5, John Legend at #7 and Chris Brown at #9. (How they coordinated it so they'd occupy only the odd positions is beyond me!)

There's also news on the Hot Digital Tracks chart. "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain logs its eighth week at #1, which puts it in a three-way tie for the most weeks at #1 on that chart since mid 2004, when the configuration really started to take off. The other tracks with eight weeks at #1 are Green Day's "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" and Beyonce's "Irreplaceable."

"Low" registered 180,000 download purchases last week, which puts it far ahead of the #2 title, Chris Brown's "With You" (104,000 download purchases). So "Low" is likely to hold at #1 for at least another week or two. This is the fourth week in a row that the #1 digital track has registered more download sales than the #1 CD saw in total sales. (I've got a feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot this year.)

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 CDs.

1. Alicia Keys, As I Am, 61,000. Keys is the first woman to log three weeks at #1 since Norah Jones scored a year ago with Not Too Late. Keys is the first African American woman to remain at #1 this long since Ashanti scored with her eponymous debut album in 2002.

2. Juno soundtrack, 58,000. This is the first movie soundtrack to reach #2 since Hairspray last August. If it climbs one more notch, it will be the first movie soundtrack to go all the way since Dreamgirls. But those were both big, lavish musicals, while Juno is a quirky little movie with an alternative-leaning soundtrack. The movie, which was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, has grossed $85.4 million in its first seven weeks.

3. Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains, 52,000. This week's sales pushes Blige's album over the 1 million mark. Growing Pains has ranked in the top five all five weeks it has appeared on the chart.

4. Radiohead, In Rainbows, 46,000. The band's album has sold 246,000 copies in four weeks, less than the 300,000 that the band's previous album, Hail To The Thief, moved in its debut week in 2003. But then, what do you expect when you let fans download it for any price they choose.

5. Raheem DeVaughn, Love Behind The Melody, 45,000. This lofty debut marks a tremendous improvement over DeVaughn's first album, The Love Experience, which opened (and peaked) at #46 in 2005.

6. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift, 34,000. Swift's new single, "Umbrella," debuts at #68 on Hot Digital Tracks. It's possible that she'll soon have three tracks in the top 30. "Our Song" is #20 this week; "Teardrops On My Guitar" is #22.

7. John Legend, Live From Philadelphia, 33,000. This 19-track set, available only at Target, is the Grammy-winner's third album in a row to debut in the top 10. His 2005 debut, Get Lifted, opened at #7 and peaked at #4 the following week. His sophomore album, Once Again, opened (and peaked) at #3 in 2006.

8. Various Artists, Now 26, 30,000. The compilation has been a fixture in the top 10 for 10 straight weeks. It has scanned 1,370,000 copies to date.

9. Chris Brown, Exclusive, 29,000. Brown's new hit, "With You," is #2 on Hot Digital Tracks. "Kiss Kiss" topped that chart for four weeks last fall.

10. Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, 27,000. The TV soundtrack is returns to the top 10, boosted by Cyrus' hit single, "Start All Over." It's the only album in the top 30 (except the debuting collections by DeVaughn and Legend) to show a sales increase over last week. The two Hannah Montana albums are closing in on 6 million in combined sales. (Current total: 5,965,000).

Three albums fall out of the top 10 to make way for the newcomers. Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits drops from #9 to #14, Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden falls from #8 to #15, and Fergie's The Dutchess falls from #10 to #17.

Anne Murray has the week's third highest new entry with Duets: Friends & Legends, which debuts at #42. Murray first hit the pop album chart in 1970 with Snowbird, which featured her top 10 single of the same name. She posted her highest-charting album in 1978 with Let's Keep It That Way, which reached #12 and spawned her #1 smash "You Needed Me." (When Murray first hit the album chart, Shania Twain was five years old, Faith Hill was three, and Mary J. Blige was still in the womb. Which is not to make Murray feel old, but to show how long she has been in the game.)

The Magnetic Fields' Distortion opens at #77. This is the veteran alternative band's highest chart ranking to date. The band's previous album, i, was its first to hit the pop chart. It peaked at #152.

Spice Girls' Greatest Hits opens at #93. The group's debut, Spice, was the #1 album of 1997. The Girls followed it that same year with the soundtrack to Spiceworld and in 2000 with a studio album, optimistically titled Forever. (In their case, "forever" lasted seven weeks, the amount of time the album spent the top 200.)

Ringo Starr's Liverpool 8 opens at #94. It's the pop veteran's first solo album for Capitol Records since 1975. Ringo wrote and produced the songs on the album with Dave Stewart, co-founder of Eurythmics. Ringo isn't the first former member of the Fab Four to tip his hat to the Beatles' hometown in an album title. Paul McCartney released Liverpool Oratorio in 1991.

964 Comments

1. raysal1025 -
being a 33 year old single guy, i really appreciate alicia keys latest album, i always played it and i cant help to like it more. as i am by alicia keys is truly a masterpiece. i love all of the cuts in the album. dont be surprised why it retain the number one position. GOD BLESS

2. Michael -
music industry is in bad shape

3. Yahoo! Music User -
overrated

4. Giovanna d -
Who buys albums anymore? Why shell out nearly 20 bucks for something that has maybe 4 or 5 listenable tracks? The last album I actually paid money for was Norah Jones' Come Away With Me and that was how many years ago? Just buy it on ITunes for a buck if you like it. Honestly, I don't know why anyone even wants to be in the recording business anymore - why don't these artists just take the millions they have and invest it in their own website and sell their own tracks?

5. john d -
who relly gives a f*uck.

6. lupe b -
Music artist copy everything! What ever happened to making their own music?

7. real_hachet_delivery -
same sound over and over again. lets try to make something that isn't like everyone elses.

8. dannyzworld -
are you kidding me? R&B and Rap are dead? This article only proves that rap and R&B are the only music genres alive. Rap and R&B takes up the whole top 10 charts.. it's the only thing people are buying, even when the music industry is down so low. did you even read the article "Chris?" You obviously didn't otherwise you would have noticed that during a sales slump, Alicia Keys album, which has been out for weeks and has went double platinum, is on top of the charts still. ALSO, since you're so misinformed, i'd like to tell you that Alicia Keys has won 10+ grammys, and non of her music is profane.

9. Yahoo! Music User -
@Chris it has nothing to do with her genre of music. The music industry as a whole has suffered due to the internet. Her record has gone double platinum. Whether you know it or not alot of rock groups don't even make it to platinum let alone double platinum.

10. Martin W -
I don't care what this article says. Alicia Key's new CD is off the chain. The lyrics and music on this song is something serious and is for grown people! The album has already sold millions and it was just released in November 07. It takes some artist( and we won't call no names) a year to do just that, so whatever!

11. Nilu A -
um who cares???

12. Summer -
strained. not her best work. sad because she has a truly awesome voice. good thing she is also beautiful. somehow beauty seems to keep some artists from being dragged through the mud when they aren't on their game. never understood what looks had to do with music, but this is the way of our society. =(

13. Mariesha Murphy -
alicia keys is overrated 90's music was better im sorry but alicia keys music now makes me fall asleep

14. craker -
i love this woman she is by far the most talented person in the music industry, her voice is amazing it is not comparable to anyone, she is in a league of her owm, a truly talented artist, you just cant say that about anyone

15. Yahoo! Music User -
www.myspace.com/roughglamour

16. Yahoo! Music User -
wow pretty deep dude.

17. Ming P -
internet downloading hurt or kill the music industry. :)

18. a2006medic -
i still buy albums i just support the artists i like why not pay them to supply you with the music you want to hear last albums i bought were lupe fiascos "the cool" and j holidays(self titled)satisfied with both

19. Yahoo! Music User -
hey why buy it, when you can get it for free.then you dont have to get mad when you realize it is just unoriginal crap

20. GIOVAN R -
Michael, my man. You are absolutely right about the music industry. It is in bad shape.
Alicia Keys deserves the number#1 position
though she is a true artist.
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