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[Meems Wide Awake]

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[Meems Wide Awake]

Finally , sales are increasing this year! for the second month they're increasing comparing them to last year!

This is last weeks sales ( week ending 4/24 ) :

1 Adele 153,000 1,275,400
2 Glee Cast 86,100 86,200
3 Foo Fighters 72,100 307,200
4 Lemonade Mouth 69,100 90,600
5 Britney Spears 45,100 440,100
6 Alison Krauss and Union 42,300 125,500
7 Mumford and Songs 38,800 1,345,000
8 Paul Simon 36,800 105,800
9 Chris Brown 36,500 484,800
10 Justin Bieber 36,100 523,700
11 Katy Perry 34,400 1,404,900
12 Wiz Khalifa 33,800 328,100
13 Jason Aldean 30,200 1,094,900
14 Wow Various 28,900 534,500
15 Japanese Relief 28,600 255,700
16 Rihanna 28,100 1,209,100
17 Taylor Swift 27,300 3,361,900
18 Bruno Mars 25,000 949,000
19 Justin Bieber 24,600 2,717,300
20 P!NK 23,600 692,100
21 Mana 23,500 70,300
22 Kirk Franklin 21,200 188,400
23 Various 21,200 234,500
24 Gorillaz 20,500 21,600
25 Zac Brown Band 19,500 863,700
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Country albums :

LW TW Artist Album Sales TW Sales Total
- 3 - 6 Alison Krauss/Union Station Paper Airplane 42,314 125,554
15 13 Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 30,298 1,094,905
30 17 Taylor Swift Speak Now 27,324 3,361,961
26 23 Original Soundtrack Country Strong 21,205 234,545
27 25 Zac Brown Band You Get What You Give 19,593 863,789
35 28 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This 17,970 781,177
36 29 Lady Antebellum Need You Now 17,863 3,449,923
43 33 The Band Perry The Band Perry 17,178 516,681
40 36 Sara Evans Stronger 15,248 149,786
55 47 Sugarland The Incredible Machine 11,881 959,367
58 52 Miranda Lambert Revolution 10,449 1,285,123
57 55 Aaron Lewis Town Line 9,500 121,657
77 64 Kenny Chesney Hemingway's Whiskey 8,220 792,274
70 65 Thompson Square Thompson Square 8,131 143,531
68 68 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 7,989 2,591,555
83 71 Soundtrack - More Music Country Strong 7,690 63,321
93 75 Blake Shelton Loaded…Best of Blake… 7,386 237,714
97 85 Tim McGraw Number One Hits 6,766 333,751
114 103 Darius Rukcer Charleston, SC 1966 5,302 452,418
122 106 Jerrod Niemann Judge Jerrod/Hung Jury 5,055 294,299
118 108 Billy Currington Enjoy Yourself 5,012 302,890
145 129 Brad Paisley Hits Alive 4,277 289,244
Re-Entry 146 Carrie Underwood Play On 3,875 1,990,383
124 172 Craig Campbell Craig Campbell 3,303 15,256
Re-Entry 185 Toby Keith Bullets In The Gun 3,063 323,880
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Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending April 24) totaled 6.48 million units, up 2% compared to the sum last week (6.32 million) and up 17% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (5.55 million). Year to date album sales stand at 96.49 million, down 2% compared to the same total at this point last year (98.24 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 26.69 million downloads, up 11% compared to last week (24.06 million) and up 22% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (21.73 million). Year to date track sales are at 413.04 million, up 9% compared to the same total at this point last year (378.57 million).

Also , Sony is dominating the charts for the second straight month ! according to the Hollywood Reporter , the first quarter sales of this year! Sony & UMG ( Universal Music Group ) are almost equal in sales ( both 29.3% ) , music experts are expecting that Sony will be the biggest label in the world after more than 10 years of UMG's domination ( YAY! GO Sony , Sorry Shari ) , with Sony having several big artists & huge releases this year under their belt! . also with the changes in the staff of Sony specially the new Chairman & CEO , Doug Morris ( He was the CEO of UMG since 1998 untill this year ).

As for this week sales predictions , Adele continues to dominate the chart as her XL/Columbia album 21 logs an impressive sixth week at #1 and her debut album, 19, may re-enter the Top 15. Sony also has a shot at the Top 6 titles next week.
Adele (XL/Columbia) 110-120k
Britney Spears (Jive/JLG) 30-35k
Foo Fighters (Roswell/RCA/RMG) 28-32k
Chris Brown (Jive/JLG) 27-30k
Glee Cast: Glee Presents The Warblers (Columbia) 27-30k
Mumford & Sons (Glassnote) 27-30k
Rihanna (Def Jam/IDJ) 24-27k
Wiz Khalifa (Atlantic) 21-24k
Katy Perry (Capitol/EMI) 21-24k
Lemonade Mouth (Walt Disney) 21-24k
Paul Simon (Hear Music/Concord) 20-23k
Alison Krauss & Union Station (Rounder) 20-23k
Jason Aldean (Broken Bow) 18-21k
Songs For Japan (Universal/Sony) 18-21k
Adele 19 (XL/Columbia) 15-17k
*The Airborne Toxic Event (Island/IDJ) 15-17k

*Debuts
PS : JIVE , RCA & Columbia are labels under Sony Music Entertainment ( SME ) .

[Meems Wide Awake]

Adele is the #1 on i-Tunes since 2 weeks! ( GO Adele! ) & now Lady Antebellum at #2 , pushing down down Katy Perry , RiRi , GaGa , Britney ... they just released their lead single from their next album yesterday !!!

RANK - ARTIST - TITLE - POPULARITY
1 ADELE Rolling In the Deep 1.000000
2 Lady Antebellum Just a Kiss 0.647680
3 Katy Perry E.T. (feat. Kanye West) 0.626177
4 Bruno Mars The Lazy Song 0.577310
5 Pitbull Give Me Everything (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer) 0.532755
6 The Black Eyed Peas Just Can't Get Enough 0.493059
7 David Guetta, Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj Where Them Girls At (feat. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida) 0.491906
8 Ke$ha Blow 0.394171
9 Jennifer Lopez On the Floor (feat. Pitbull) 0.392432
10 Tinie Tempah Written In the Stars (feat. Eric Turner) 0.357124

[drewj]

May 4, 2011 2:20:58 GMT -5 Meems Wide Awake said:

Adele is the #1 on i-Tunes since 2 weeks! ( GO Adele! ) & now Lady Antebellum at #2 , pushing down down Katy Perry , RiRi , GaGa , Britney ... they just released their lead single from their next album yesterday !!!

It's about time talent topples popularity.

[Meems Wide Awake]

^^ Word! ;D

[cj14u]

Please let the days of techo and auto tune music be gone forever! I'm hoping anyway.

[Meems Wide Awake]

This past week sales ( week ending 5/1 ) :

Artist - This Week - Retail-to-date
1 Adele 123,500 1,399,000
2 Foo Fighters 34,300 341,600
3 Mumford & Sons 32,000 1,377,100
4 Britney Spears 29,900 470,100
5 Lemonade Mouth 29,500 120,100
6 Chris Brown 28,300 513,200
7 Glee 27,500 113,800
8 Katy Perry 23,800 1,428,700
9 Wiz Khalifa 23,600 351,700
10 Paul Simon 23,500 129,300
11 Jason Aldean 23,400 1,118,300
12 Alison Krauss & Union 23,400 148,900
13 Bruno Mars 22,700 971,800
14 Rihanna 21,800 1,231,000
15 Various 20,500 276,200
16 Explosions in the Sky 18,600 19,000
17 Airborne Toxic Event 17,900 18,100
18 Emmylou Harris 16,800 17,000
19 Kirk Franklin 16,300 203,000
20 Various 15,900 550,400
21 Justine Bieber 14,500 538,300
22 P!NK 14,300 706,400
23 Steve Earle 13,600 14,000
24 Justin Bieber 13,500 2,730,800
25 Mana 13,000 83,400
26 Zac Brown Band 13,000 876,800
27 Nicki Minaj 12,900 1,342,200
28 Augustana 12,000 12,000
29 Taylor Swift 11,900 3,373,900
30 Hollywood Undead 11,900 119,700
31 Jennifer Hudson 11,900 302,200
32 Various 11,800 246,400
33 Eminem 11,700 3,830,900
34 Lupe Fiasco 11,400 358,300
35 Rascal Flatts 11,100 792,300
36 Miguel 11,000 143,900
37 Silverstein 11,000 11,100
38 Florence & The Machine 10,600 596,300
39 Sara Evans 9,800 159,600
40 Marsha Ambrosius 9,700 259,800
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Country :
LW TW Artist - Album - Sales TW - Sales Total
13 11 Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 23,459 1,118,364
6 12 Alison Krauss/Union Station Paper Airplane 23,424 148,974
new 18 Emmylou Harris Hard Bargain 16,858 17,086
new 23 Steve Earle I'll Never Get Out Of This.. 13,657 14,026
25 26 Zac Brown Band You Get What You Give 13,019 876,808
17 29 Taylor Swift Speak Now 11,987 3,373,948
23 32 Original Soundtrack Country Strong 11,897 246,442
28 35 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This 11,134 792,311
36 39 Sara Evans Stronger 9,886 159,672
33 41 The Band Perry The Band Perry 9,666 526,347
29 42 Lady Anthebellum Need You Now 9,659 3,459,582
52 53 Miranda Lambert Revolution 7,316 1,292,439
55 54 Aaron Lewis Town Line 7,224 128,881
47 60 Sugarland The Incredible Machine 6,687 966,054
75 67 Blake Shelton Loaded…Best of Blake… 6,296 244,010
65 68 Thompson Square Thompson Square 6,234 149,765
64 69 Kenny Chesney Hemingway's Whiskey 6,201 798,475
85 71 Tim McGraw Number One Hits 5,914 339,665
68 76 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 5,540 2,597,095
71 79 Var/Country Strong Soundtrack More Music From C.S. 5,439 68,760
103 97 Darius Rucker Charleston, SC 1966 4,345 456,763
108 118 Billy Currington Enjoy Yourself 3,762 306,652
106 122 Jerrod Niemann Judge Jerrod/Hung Jury 3,662 297,961
NEW 156 Whiskey Myers Firewater 3,070 3,070
147 177 Carrie Underwood Play On 2,754 1,993,137
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Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 1) totaled 5.4 million units, down 17% compared with the sum last week (6.5 million) and down 2% compared with the comparable sales week of 2010 (5.5 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 101.9 million, down 2% compared with the same total at this point last year (103.7 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 25.3 million downloads, down 5% compared with last week (26.7 million) and up 18% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (21.5 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 438.4 million, up 10% compared with the same total at this point last year (400 million).

This week predictions :
Adele (XL/Columbia) 140-160k
*Beastie Boys (Capitol/EMI) 110-120k
*Now 38 (Capitol/EMI) 110-120k
*Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop) 80-90k
*Jennifer Lopez (Island/IDJ) 60-65k
*Stevie Nicks (Reprise) 45-50k
*Musiq Soulchild (Atlantic) 35-40k
Mumford & Sons (Glassnote) 28-32k
*Sade Ultimate Collection (Epic) 27-30k
*Sixx: A.M. (Eleven Seven) 27-30
Jason Aldean (Broken Bow) 27-30k
Lemonade Mouth (Walt Disney) 25-28k
Foo Fighters (Roswell/RCA/RMG) 25-28k
Bruno Mars (New Elektra) 20-23k
Britney Spears (Jive/JLG) 20-23k

------------------------------------------------
Adele proves that she's the true mother!

[Meems Wide Awake]

Week Ending May 8 , 2011 :

Jennifer Lopez is seen by upwards of 24 million TV viewers two nights a week thanks to her gig as a judge on American Idol. Her current hit "On The Floor" has sold 1,753,000 digital copies and has been ranked in the top 10 on the Hot 100 for nine weeks. She got an extra shot of publicity last month (as if she needed it) when People declared her the "World's Most Beautiful Woman!" For all that, her new album, Love?, sold just 83K copies in its first week.

That's not bad: The album enters The Billboard 200 at #5, which is higher than Lopez's last couple of albums debuted. The Spanish-language Como Ama Una Mujer bowed at #10 in April 2007. The English-language Brave opened at #12 six months later.

But Lopez's career was in something of a slump in 2007. The only Hot 100 hit from Brave was "Do It Well," which stalled at an inglorious #31. Now, J.Lo is back on top and seemingly everywhere. Yet 21 albums so far this year have sold more copies in their first weeks, including albums by acts that don't have a fraction of Lopez's fame and multi-media exposure. I'm thinking about Marsha Ambrosius, who debuted in March with 96K, the Decemberists, who bowed in January with 94K.

With everything J.Lo has going for her, I would have expected her album to have first-week sales more in line with those of such fellow multi-media superstars as Justin Bieber (161K), Chris Brown (270K), Jennifer Hudson (165K) and Britney Spears (276K). It just goes to show the disconnect that sometimes exists between fame and record buying success.

Beastie Boys' Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, the influential rap trio's first studio album in nearly seven years, sold 128K copies this week. That would have put it at #1 last week, about 4K ahead of the year's biggest hit, Adele's 21. But sales of 21 jumped to 155K this week, thanks largely to Mother's Day gift-giving (as well as to the still-building popularity of Adele's single, "Rolling In The Deep"). It's at least arguable that Mother's Day kept Beastie Boys from landing their fifth #1 album.

This is the Beasties' first regular studio album to miss the top spot since Check Your Head debuted and peaked at #10 in 1992. The trio's debut album, Licensed To Ill, made history in March 1987 when it became the first rap album to hit #1 on The Billboard 200. The trio returned to #1 with Ill Communication (1994), Hello Nasty (1998) and To The 5 Boroughs (2004).

While they didn't quite make #1 on The Billboard 200, the Beasties debut at #1 on Top Digital Albums. The album sold 64K digital copies, which is a little more than half of its first-week total.

This is the seventh week at #1 on The Billboard 200 for 21. It's the longest run at #1 by a female artist since Taylor Swift's Fearless logged 11 weeks on top in 2008-2009. It's the longest run by a British artist since the Beatles' 1 logged eight weeks on top in 2000-'01. And it's the longest run at #1 by a British female solo artist in chart history. (As part of Fleetwood Mac, England's Christine McVie topped the chart for 31 weeks in 1977-78 with Rumours.)

In addition, 21 holds at #1 in the U.K. for the 14th week. It's the longest run at #1 in that country since the Spice Girls' Spice had 15 weeks on top from November 1996 to May 1997.

Stevie Nicks' In Your Dreams, the rock icon's first solo album in 10 years, bows at #6. She's picking up almost exactly where she left off: Her last solo studio album, Trouble In Shangri-La, debuted and peaked at #5 in May 2001. As part of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks first cracked the top 10 in September 1975 with Fleetwood Mac. That album hit #1 and spawned three top 20 hits, but is thought of today mostly as the warm-up for the band's follow-up album, Rumours. That blockbuster re-enters the chart at #11 this week in the wake of a Glee episode which was built around the album. (See item below the top 10 list.)

Sade's The Ultimate Collection bows at #7. This new entry is Sade's ninth consecutive top 10 album, which is its entire output, dating back to 1985's Diamond Life. Billboard's Keith Caulfield notes that Sade is the first group to hit the top 10 with its first nine albums since Led Zeppelin, which did it with its first 10 albums, from 1969's Led Zeppelin to 1983's Coda. The two acts have little in common, except for this: They are both originals, utterly distinctive and immediately recognizable. There's a moral in there somewhere.

Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" outsold "E.T." by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West by a wide margin (294K to 237K), which allowed it to move up to #1 on Hot Digital Songs. Will it also move up to #1 on the Hot 100 (which also incorporates radio airplay)? You'll find out when we post Chart Watch: Songs later today. You'll also find out how high Lady Antebellum's "Just A Kiss" debuts. Hint: It will be pretty high.
1. Adele, 21, 155,000. The album logs its seventh week at #1. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Rolling In The Deep," which moves up to #1.

2. Beastie Boys, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, 128,000. This new entry is the trio's sixth top 10 album. It's the sequel to an album that was never officially released. "Make Some Noise" jumps from #154 to #115 on Hot Digital Songs.

3. Various Artists, Now 38, 124,000. This is the 36th regular installment in this series to debut in the top five. (The only two that didn't are the first one, which bowed at #21 in November 1998, and Now 3, which opened at #9 in December 1999.)

4. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues, 91,000. This new entry is the band's first top 10 album. The band's eponymous 2008 album debuted at #83 and peaked at #36 the following year.

5. Jennifer Lopez, Love?, 83,000. This new entry is Lopez's seventh top 10 album. "On The Floor" (featuring Pitbull) rebounds from #8 to #4 on Hot Digital Songs. Lopez performed the song on American Idol last week.

6. Stevie Nicks, In Your Dreams, 52,000. This new entry is Nicks' 12th top 10 album (counting seven with Fleetwood Mac). Nicks is on tour with Rod Stewart. It's Nicks' first solo album since 2001.

7. Sade, The Ultimate Collection, 38,000. This new entry is Sade's ninth consecutive top 10 album. It's the group's second greatest hits set to make the top 10, following 1994's Best Of Sade. Mother's Day gift-giving doubtless gave this title a boost as well.

8. Musiq Soulchild, Musiqinthemagiq, 35,000. This new entry is Musiq's third top 10 album. JUSLISEN (Just Listen) and Luvanmusiq both reached #1.

9. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More, 32,000. The album drops from #3 to #9 in its 59th week. This is its 17th week in the top 10. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "The Cave" drops from #66 to #81. "Little Lion Man" drops from #77 to #92.

10. Sixx: A.M., This Is Gonna Hurt, 30,000. This new entry is the band's highest-charting album. The band's 2007 album, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack, debuted and peaked at #62. In addition, group leader Nikki Sixx has amassed eight top 10 albums with Motley Crue.

Lemonade Mouth drops from #5 to #14. It's the #1 soundtrack for the third time in the past four weeks. Seven other albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Foo Fighters' Wasting Light drops from #2 to #13, Britney Spears' Femme Fatale drops from #4 to #20, Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. drops from #6 to #19, Glee: The Music Presents The Warblers drops from #7 to #23, Katy Perry's Teenage Dream drops from #8 to #17, Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers drops from #9 to #25 and Paul Simon's So Beautiful Or So What drops from #10 to #18.

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours re-enters the chart at #11 in the wake of a Glee episode which was built around the album. That's the highest that a non-holiday catalog album has placed on The Billboard 200 since the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile On Main St. spent two weeks in the top 10 last May.

Rumours is #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the first time since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard in 1991. Rumours is the third album from 1977 to reach #1 on Top Catalog Albums. Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell topped the catalog chart for 22 weeks from 1991 to 1994. Billy Joel's The Stranger headed the catalog chart for one week in 2008.

Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party dips from #11 to #12. It's #1 on Hot Country Albums for the seventh week. That's the longest run by a male solo artist in six years. The album moves up to #10 on the year-to-date sales chart. It's the best-selling country album so far this year...Colt Ford's sophomore album Every Chance I Get opens at #26. This is much better than Ford's first album, Ride Through The Country, which peaked at #140 in 2009.

An eponymous album by Donny & Marie, boosted by a QVC special, bows at #30. This is the duo's highest-charting album ever, surpassing their 1974 debut as a duo, I'm Leaving It All Up To You, which reached #35...Kelly Price's Kelly opens at #36. The R&B singer had three top 15 albums from 1998 to 2003.

Aretha Franklin's A Woman Falling Out Of Love bows at #54. Franklin first reached The Billboard 200 with The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin in November 1962. She first cracked the top 10 with I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You in May 1967. The latter album featured her landmark hit, "Respect."

Country Strong drops from #33 to #46 in its 17th week. This is the 11th week it has been the top-charting soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie. So shouldn't the album have sold more than 258K copies by now? Yes, it should have. Sales are a little off.

Thor was #1 at the box-office over the weekend. Patrick Doyle composed the score, which sold about 2K copies in its first week. That wasn't enough to put it on The Billboard 200.

David Phelps' Best Of David Phelps stepped up to #1 on Top Music Videos. The title sold 3K copies this week. Phelps is a member of The Gaither Vocal Band, which is part of Bill & Gloria Gaither's contemporary Christian empire.




Country Albums sales :
LW TW - Artist - Album - Sales TW - Sales Total
11 11 Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 28,773 1,147,138
12 15 Alison Krauss/Union Station Paper Airplane 23,424 171,944
new 24 Colt Ford Every Chance I Get 19,117 19,145
42 25 Lady Anthebellum Need You Now 18,657 3,478,212
29 26 Taylor Swift Speak Now 18,019 3,391,028
26 27 Zac Brown Band You Get What You Give 16,112 892,920
New 28 Donny & Marie Donny & Marie 16,038 16,044
35 35 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This 14,201 806,512
39 39 Sara Evans Stronger 12,080 171,752
32 43 Original Soundtrack Country Strong 11,526 257,968
41 45 The Band Perry The Band Perry 11,354 537,701
52 50 Sugarland The Incredible Machine 10,091 976,145
18 52 Emmylou Harris Hard Bargin 10,000 27,086
53 58 Miranda Lambert Revolution 8,880 1,301,319
23 64 Steve Earle I'll Never Get Out of … 7,858 21,884
67 65 Blake Shelton Loaded…Best of Blake… 7,809 251,819
69 66 Kenny Chesney Hemingway's Whiskey 7,563 806,038
54 69 Aaron Lewis Town Line 7,191 136,072
76 72 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 6,911 2,604,006
68 74 Thompson Square Thompson Square 6,468 156,233
71 76 Tim McGraw Number One Hits 6,361 346,026
NEW 80 Randy Travis Randy Travis 6,318 6,318
97 97 Darius Rucker Charleston, SC 1966 5,018 461,781
NEW 110 Eli Young Band Crazy Girl EP 4,631 4,631
119 112 Billy Currington Enjoy Yourself 4,598 311,250
170 116 Keith Urban Get Closer 4,403 583,646
re-enter 120 Steve Martin/Steep Canyon... Rare Bird Alert 4,317 42,739
123 121 Jerrod Niemann Judge Jerrod/Hung Jury 4,313 302,274
159 156 Easton Corbin Easton Corbin 3,444 371,167
178 165 Carrie Underwood Play On 3,260 1,996,397

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 8) totaled 6.23 million units, up 16% compared to the sum last week (5.38 million) and up 3% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (6.07 million). Year to date album sales stand at 108.11 million, down 2% compared to the same total at this point last year (109.78 million).

Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.03 million downloads, down 5% compared to last week (25.31 million) and up 9% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (21.95 million). Year to date track sales are at 462.37 million, up 10% compared to the same total at this point last year (421.99 million).
Coming Attractions: Adele's 21 is expected to remain at #1 for an eighth week next week. The Lonely Island's Turtleneck & Chain is expected to be next week's top new entry, with sales in the 70K range. The music/comedy troupe is fronted by Andy Samberg of Saturday Night Live fame. Three other albums have a shot at the top 10: Christina Perri's lovestrong., Tyler, The Creator's Goblin and The Cars' Move Like This. Also due: Matthew Morrison's eponymous debut album, Raphael Saadiq's Stone Rollin' and Manchester Orchestra's Simple Math.
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Next week predictions :
No surprise that Adele holds onto the #1 spot next week with her XL/Columbia smash 21. In fact, she's expected to stay at the top until the week ending May 29, when Lady Gaga will debut at #1. Here's how it looks headed into the weekend:

Adele 21 (XL/Columbia) 120-130k
Now 38 (Capitol/EMI) 75-80k
*Lonely Island (Universal Republic) 60-65k
*Christina Perri (Atlantic) 45-50k
*Tyler, The Creator (XL/Beggars) 45-50k
Beastie Boys (Capitol/EMI) 40-45k
Jennifer Lopez (Island/IDJ) 35-40k
*The Cars (Hear Music/Concord) 30-35k
Mumford & Sons (Glassnote) 27-30k
Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop) 27-30k
Jason Aldean (Broken Bow) 24-27k
Lemonade Mouth (Walt Disney) 19-22k
Foo Fighters (Roswell/RCA/RMG) 19-22k
*Manchester Orchestra (Columbia) 17-20k
Adele 19 (Columbia) 17-20k
Chris Brown (Jive/JLG) 17-20k
Stevie Nicks (Reprise) 17-20k
Bruno Mars (New Elektra) 17-20k

* Debuts .

[Meems Wide Awake]

Songs :

Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" moves up to #1 in its 18th week on Billboard's Hot 100. The sleeper smash is the second song so far this year to take 18 weeks to reach the top. The first was Wiz Khalifa's "Black And Yellow.".

"Rolling In The Deep" also advances to #1 in its 18th week on the Hot Digital Songs chart. This constitutes the slowest climb to #1 on that chart since Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" finally cracked the top spot in its 31st week in March 2010. A live rendition of that smash went on to win a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. "Rolling In The Deep" is very likely to be the first winner of the combined male/female Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance..

Adele's album 21 holds at #1 on The Billboard 200 for the seventh week. This marks the first time that an artist has had the #1 album and the #1 song on the Hot 100 in the same week since Eminem scored in September with Recovery and "Love The Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna). It's the first time that a female artist has pulled off this double feat since Ke$ha scored in January 2010 with Animal and "TiK ToK.".

Finally, Adele's smash is the first song by a female British artist to top the Hot 100 since Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" spent four weeks at #1 in the spring of 2008..

"E.T." by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West dips to #2, but it's still a history-making week for the pop star, who becomes the first artist in the history of the Hot 100 to remain in the top 10 for a full year. Perry's streak began with "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg), which debuted at #2 in the week ending May 16, 2010. It has continued with "Teenage Dream," "Firework" and "E.T." (featuring Kanye West)..

Billboard's Gary Trust (who came up with this item) reports that the old record was held by Ace of Base, which logged 48 consecutive weeks in the top 10 from Oct. 15, 1993 through Sept. 10, 1994. The Swedish group achieved the feat with the hits "All That She Wants," "The Sign" and "Don't Turn Around.".

I have still more good news for Perry. "E.T." tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. It's Perry's sixth song to reach that plateau, which is more than any other artist in digital history. Rihanna is in second place with five songs, a tally that includes both lead and featured performances. Perry has been in the lead position on all six of her 3-million-sellers..

Perry's songs to top the 3 million mark are (in chronological order) "I Kissed A Girl" (which is up to 4,046,000, per Nielsen SoundScan), "Hot N Cold" (4,878,000), "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg, 4,798,000), "Teenage Dream" (3,660,000), "Firework" (4,265,000) and now "E.T." (3,157,000)..

"E.T." is the fourth 3 million-seller for West, following "Gold Digger" (featuring Jamie Foxx, 3,083,000), "Stronger" (4,363,000) and "Heartless" (3,742,000)..

Lady Antebellum's "Just A Kiss" enters the Hot 100 at #7. The trio's only previous top 10 hit, "Need You Now," took 14 weeks to break into the top 10 (in November 2009). But that song was a game-changer for the trio. It is the best-selling country song in digital history. And it enabled Lady A to win five Grammys in February..

"Give Me Everything" by Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer jumps from #13 to #8. It's Ne-Yo's 10th top 10 hit. These songs are split evenly between his own hits ("So Sick," "Sexy Love," "Because Of You," "Closer" and "Miss Independent") and recordings where he was the featured artist. He has been featured on top 10 hits by Fabolous, Rihanna, Plies, Keri Hilson and now Pitbull..

Two songs that had their credits adjusted midway through their chart runs remain in the top 10 this week. Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" (featuring Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha) drops from #3 to #6 in its 10th week. Rihanna's "S&M" (featuring Britney Spears) drops from #6 to #9 in its 17th week. The collabo remix of "Till The World Ends" accounted for 68% of its sales in the tracking week that ended May 1. The collabo remix of "S&M" accounted for 66% of its sales in the tracking week that ended April 17..

R&B radio and fans are solidly behind Chris Brown. His current hit, "Look At Me Now," which holds at #10 on the Hot 100, is in its eighth week at #1 on Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs. His 2010 hit, "Deuces" (featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall) headed the R&B chart for nine weeks. Brown is one of only three lead artists since January 2000 to spend eight or more weeks at #1 on the R&B chart with two or more singles. The others are Alicia Keys (who has done it with a pack-leading three hits) and Beyonce..

Shameless Plug: This month marks 20 years since Billboard first used Nielsen SoundScan data to power its charts. I'm commemorating the anniversary with a few Chart Watch Extras. First up was a year-by-year look at the best-selling songs of each of the past 20 years. You can watch as physical singles crash and burn and digital songs gradually fill the void. This went up on Friday. If you missed it, here's a link. The second one will be a year-by-year look at the best-selling albums of each of the past 20 years. The year-end leaders cover a wide range. They include four soundtracks, four rap albums, two rock albums, two country albums, two R&B albums, two albums by "boy bands," an album by a "girl group" and even a Christmas album. It will go up tomorrow..

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

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1. Adele, "Rolling In The Deep." The song moves up to #1 in its 18th week on the chart. This is its sixth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #1 (294K)..

2. Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, "E.T." The song dips to #2 after five weeks at #1. This is its 13th week on the chart; its 11th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #2 (237K)..

3. Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull, "On The Floor." The song jumps from #7 to #3 (its highest ranking to date) in its 11th week on the chart. This is its 10th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #4 (175K)..

4. The Black Eyed Peas, "Just Can't Get Enough." The song holds at #4 in its 13th week on the chart. This is its eighth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #8 (148K)..

5. Bruno Mars, "The Lazy Song." The song holds at #5 in its 11th week on the chart. This is its third week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #5 (172K)..

6. Britney Spears featuring Nicki Minaj and Ke$ha, "Till The World Ends." The song drops from #3 to #6 in its 10th week. This is its fifth week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #9 (126K)..

7. Lady Antebellum, "Just A Kiss" This new entry is the trio's second top 10 hit on the Hot 100, following "Need You Now," which reached #2 in March 2010. The trio performed the song on American Idol. Digital sales rank: #3 (211K)..

8. Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer, "Give Me Everything." The song jumps from #13 to #8 in its sixth week on the chart. It's Pitbull's seventh top 10 hit; Ne-Yo's 10th; and the first for the other two featured artists. Digital sales rank: #7 (153K)..

9. Rihanna, "S&M." The former #1 song drops from #6 to #9 in its 17th week on the chart. This is its 13th week in the top 10. Digital sales rank: #15 (93K)..

10. Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes, "Look At Me Now." The song holds at #10 in its 14th week on the chart. This is its eighth week in the top 10. The song in its eighth week at #1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Digital sales rank: #10 (117K)..

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Two songs drop out of the top 10 this week. Ke$ha's "Blow" drops from #8 to #11. "Down On Me" by Jeremih featuring 50 Cent drops from #9 to #12..

"Where Them Girls At" by David Guetta featuring Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj debuts at #14. Digital sales rank: #6 (162K). The song is vying to become Guetta's third top 10 hit, following his own "Sexy Chick" (featuring Akon) and Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me.".

Last week, I pointed out that key singles from upcoming albums by superstar female artists were facing surprising resistance. Let's check in and see what happens to them this week. Lady Gaga's "Judas" inches up from #20 to #19 in its fourth week (and will probably keep resurging), but Beyonce's "Run The World (Girls)" continues to slide. It falls from #48 to #65 in its third week. .

"Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock jumps from #38 to #24 in its seventh week. The song holds at #1 in the U.K. for the fourth straight week. The Official Charts Co. reports that only two other singles in the last three years have spent four consecutive weeks at #1 in the U.K.: Adele's "Someone Like You" (2011) and Lily Allen's "The Fear" (2009)..

Bad Meets Evil's "Fast Lane" bows at #32. Bad Meets Evil consists of Royce da 5'9" and Eminem. The hip hop duo takes its name from a track on Eminem's 1999 debut album, The Slim Shady LP, which featured Royce da 5'9". "Fast Lane" is the first single from the pair's upcoming EP, Hell: The Sequel, which is due June 14..

Sara Evans' "A Little Bit Stronger" jumps from #37 to #34 (a new peak) in its 19th week. In addition, the song holds at #1 on Top Country Songs for a second week. It's the first hit by a female solo artist to spend multiple weeks atop the country chart since Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me" logged four weeks at #1 last June..

Five Glee versions of songs from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours invade this week's Hot 100. "Go Your Own Way" bows at #45, followed by "Songbird" at #68, "Don't Stop" at #79, "Never Going Back Again" at #81 and "Dreams" (featuring Kristin Chenoweth) at #92..

Surprisingly (or maybe not), more fans downloaded the Glee versions this week than opted for Fleetwood Mac's originals. But two of the band's hits re-entered Hot Digital Songs. "Go Your Own Way," which was the first single from Rumours, charted at #157. "Dreams," which was the second single (and the only #1 from the album), charted at #167. The songs' digital tallies are surprisingly modest. "Go Your Own Way" has sold 475K copies. "Dreams" has sold 430K..

Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" vaults from #98 to #48 in its second week. This is vying to become Minaj's first top 10 hit as a lead artist, following featured roles on hits by Trey Songz and Britney Spears..

"Better With The Lights Off" by New Boyz featuring Chris Brown bows at #61. This is vying to become New Boyz' fourth top 30 hit, following "You're A Jerk," "Tie Me Down" (featuring Ray J) and "Backseat" (featuring Cataracs & Dev)...Avenged Sevenfold's "Not Ready To Die" bows at #70. This is the band's third Hot 100 hit, following "Bat Country" and "Nightmare.".

"I'm Into You" by Jennifer Lopez featuring Lil Wayne bows at #72. If this follows "On The Floor" into the top 10, this will be the first year since 2002 that J.Lo has had multiple top 10 hits in a calendar year. She had three that year: "Ain't It Funny" (featuring Ja Rule), "I'm Gonna Be Alright" (featuring Nas) and "Jenny From The Block" (featuring Jadakiss & Styles)..

Song Scorecard: "Apologize" by Timbaland featuring OneRepublic tops the 5 million mark in digital sales this week. It's one of only 10 songs to sell that many digital copies. The song logged four weeks at #2 in November 2007..

Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. It's Gaga's fourth 3 million seller, following "Just Dance" (featuring Colby O'Donis, 6,147,000), "Poker Face" (6,139,000) and "Bad Romance" (4,753,000)..

Bruno Mars' "Lazy Song" tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week. It's Mars' fifth consecutive million-seller..
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This month marks 20 years since Billboard first used Nielsen SoundScan data to power its charts.

20 Years Of Top Songs
It's still early, but Katy Perry may be on track to become the first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history to have the year's best-selling song two years running. Perry's current hit, "E.T." (featuring Kanye West), this week pulls ahead of Cee Lo Green's "F**k You (Forget You)" to become the best-selling song so far in 2011. Perry had the best-seller of 2010 with "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg)..

This year marks 20 years since Billboard began using Nielsen SoundScan data to power its charts. The change began with The Billboard 200 and expanded later in the year to include the Hot 100. For the first time, the music industry (and pop fans) could see actual sales numbers rather than just relative chart rankings. This brought an unprecedented degree of precision and transparency to the weekly charts..

To mark the anniversary, I will post a few Chart Watch Extras this month. This first one tracks the best-selling songs of each of the past 20 years..

When Nielsen SoundScan came along, CD singles and cassette singles were still popular. As late as 1997, 28 singles each sold 1 million or more physical copies during the year. The biggest was Elton John's "Candle In The Wind 1997," a tribute to Princess Diana, which sold more than 8 million copies in the U.S..

But soon after, sales of physical singles started to plummet. There were 21 million-sellers in 1998 and eight in 1999. In 2000, there were just two: Santana's "Maria Maria" (featuring The Product G&B) and Madonna's "Music.".

And then there were none. For five straight years starting in 2001, no physical singles sold 1 million copies during the year. The best-sellers in those years weren't by any means the year's biggest radio hits. Three of them were the "coronation songs" by American Idol finalists..

The iTunes store opened in April 2003. Sales were slow at first, but digital would eventually take the place of physical singles. By 2005, the year's top-selling digital song (Weezer's "Beverly Hills") outsold the year's top-selling physical single (Carrie Underwood's "Inside Your Heaven"). Sales of the year's top digital song increased each year for six straight years, reaching a peak (for now at least) in 2009 when the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" sold 4,762,000 copies during the year..

Here's a year-by-year look at the #1 best-selling songs of each of the past 20 years. From 1992 through 2004, the numbers are for physical singles. From 2005 on, they are for digital songs..

1992: Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You," 3,086,000. Houston's turbo-charged remake of Dolly Parton's gentle country ballad topped the Hot 100 for 14 weeks and won a Grammy for Record of the Year. David Foster produced the dramatic ballad, which was featured in Houston's movie debut, The Bodyguard. The smash was so big it was also the #2 best-seller of 1993, with sales in that year of 1,431,000. .

1993: Tag Team, "Whoomp! (There It Is)," 2,754,000. This exuberant rap smash never quite reached #1 on the Hot 100 (it logged seven weeks at #2), but it sold more copies than any other single in 1993. This was the duo's only top 40 hit. An urban legend holds that you can glimpse a young Barack Obama in the music video (at the 1:00 mark). The video is so high-energy you can burn calories by just watching it..

1994: Boyz II Men, "I'll Make Love To You," 1,627,000. Babyface wrote and produced this courtly ballad, which logged 14 weeks at #1 and received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. It celebrated old-fashioned romantic values in a "Bump N' Grind" era..

1995: Coolio featuring L.V., "Gangsta's Paradise," 2,534,000. This smash was based on Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise," a song from his landmark 1976 album Songs In The Key Of Life. The result was a blend of hip-hop and classic songwriting values. The smash, which was featured in the movie Dangerous Minds, spent three weeks at #1 and received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year..

1996: Los Del Rio, "Macarena (bayside boys mix)," 3,747,000. This loopy novelty smash first charted in September 1995. It hit #1 in August 1996 and stayed there for 14 weeks. The Spanish duo wrote the good-natured but empty-headed song. This and the original version were the act's only top 40 hits. This is the only year-end #1 of the Nielsen SoundScan era that was sung largely in a foreign language..

1997: Elton John, "Candle In The Wind 1997," 8,111,000. Elton sang a hastily revised lyric for his poignant 1973 ballad at Princess Diana's funeral on Sept. 6, 1997. George Martin produced the subsequent recording, which was double-listed with "Something About The Way You Look Tonight." The single logged 14 weeks at #1. It sold more copies (in one year or overall) than any other song in the Nielsen SoundScan era. Alas, it was Elton's last top 20 hit..

1998: Brandy & Monica, "The Boy Is Mine," 2,591,000. The sassy and soulful collabo logged 13 weeks at #1 and received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. Brandy co-produced the slinky ballad with Rodney Jerkins and Dallas Austin. It was the first #1 hit for both singers. Monica also had the year's #5 seller, "The First Night.".

1999: Cher, "Believe," 1,707,000. Thirty-four years after Sonny & Cher had Billboard's #16 single of 1965, "I Got You Babe," Cher had 1999's best-selling single with this survivor's anthem. "Believe" topped the Hot 100 for four weeks and received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. It also ushered in the era of Autotune. Alas, it was Cher's last top 40 hit..

2000: Santana featuring The Product G&B, "Maria, Maria," 1,337,000. Santana's follow-up to "Smooth," which was the #5 best-seller of 1999, became the top-seller of 2000. Wyclef Jean co-wrote and co-produced the Latin-tinged song, which topped the Hot 100 for 10 weeks..

2001: Mariah Carey, "Loverboy," 571,000. This song from Carey's ill-fated movie, Glitter, peaked at #2 on the Hot 100. This marked the first time in eight years that the year's top-selling song didn't reach #1 on the weekly charts. Also, this marked the fourth year in a row that the year's #1 single sold fewer copies than the previous year's top hit. "Loverboy" sampled Cameo's 1987 hit "Candy." The B side was a remix featuring Da Brat and Ludacris..

2002: Kelly Clarkson, "A Moment Like This," 600,000. The first American Idol champ had the year's top-seller with this melodramatic ballad. It's a tribute to Clarkson's talent and likeability that she survived this schlocky song. The song topped the Hot 100 for two weeks..

2003: Clay Aiken, "This Is The Night," 948,000. This marked the only time that a non-winner on American Idol had the year's top-selling hit. (Aiken was the runner-up to Ruben Studdard.) The soaring ballad, which was co-written by rocker Aldo Nova, topped the Hot 100 for two weeks. The B side was a remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," which was Billboard's #1 hit of 1970..

2004: Fantasia, "I Believe," 401,000. The third American Idol winner had the year's top-seller with this inspirational ballad. (The song, which topped the Hot 100 for one week, was co-written by Tamyra Gray, who finished fourth in the first season of Idol.) This sold fewer copies than any other year-end #1 of the Nielsen/SoundScan era. It's Fantasia's only top 10 hit to date..

2005: Weezer, "Beverly Hills," 962,000. This marked the first time that the year's #1 digital track sold more copies than the year's #1 physical single. The song peaked at #10 on the Hot 100 (lower than the top-seller of any other year). The video, shot at the Playboy Mansion, plays on the song's dry wit. This is Weezer's only top 10 hit to date, though lead singer Rivers Cuomo made it back to the top 10 as a featured artist on B.o.B.'s "Magic.".

2006: Daniel Powter, "Bad Day," 1,936,000. Powter's bittersweet ballad sold more copies than any year-end #1 since "The Boy Is Mine." I guess bad days are universal. The song topped the Hot 100 for five weeks. It was Powter's first and last (to date, at least) Hot 100 hit..
2007: Soulja Boy Tell'em, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," 2,714,000. Soulja Boy's debut hit sold more copies than any year-end #1 since "Candle In The Wind 1997." The hip hop smash entered the Hot 100 on Soulja Boy's 17th birthday. It topped the chart for seven weeks..

2008: Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love," 3,420,000. Lewis' elegant debut hit logged four weeks at #1 and received a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. It's Lewis' only top 10 hit to date. Ryan Tedder produced the smash, which echoes early Mariah Carey ballads. Tedder co-wrote the song with fellow hit-maker Jesse McCartney..
2009: The Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow," 4,762,000. This smash, which is at the midpoint of pop and hip hop, was the Peas' first #1 hit. It stayed on top for 12 weeks. will.i.am produced the smash. Remarkably, the Peas also had the year's #2 hit, "I Gotta Feeling." This marked the only time in the Nielsen SoundScan era that one act had both of the year's top two hits..
2010: Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, "California Gurls," 4,398,000. This was the first two-star collabo to top the year-end chart since "The Boy Is Mine." The song topped the Hot 100 for six weeks. It borrows a line from the Beach Boys' "California Girls," which was Billboard's #49 song of 1965. The song and the candyland video are pure, escapist fun..

2011: Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, "E.T." 2,789,000 (so far). This spacey smash has topped the Hot 100 for five weeks. If 2011 were to end this week, Perry would have the #1 hit of the year two years running. But we still have a long way to go. Stay tuned..
Post Script: While the Black Eyed Peas are the only act in Nielsen/SoundScan history to have both of the year's top two hits, two other acts came close. Mariah Carey had two of the top three best-sellers of 1995 with "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day" (a collabo with Boyz II Men). Puff Daddy had two of the top three of 1997 with "I'll Be Missing You" (a duet with Faith Evans which also featured 112) and "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" (featuring Ma$e)..
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20 Years Of Top Albums
You probably know that Adele's 21 is the best-selling album so far this year. You may not know that if 21 maintains its status through the end of the year, Adele will become the first British solo artist to wind up with the year's #1 album in the Nielsen SoundScan era. Susan Boyle came close two years ago when her debut, I Dreamed A Dream, was the #2 best-seller of 2009..

This year marks 20 years since Billboard began using Nielsen SoundScan data to power its charts. The change began with The Billboard 200 and expanded later in the year to include the Hot 100. For the first time, the music industry (and pop fans) could see actual sales numbers rather than just relative chart rankings. This brought an unprecedented degree of precision and transparency to the weekly charts..

To mark the anniversary, I am posting a few Chart Watch Extras this month. This first one, which went up on Friday, tracked the best-selling songs of each of the past 20 years. If you missed it, here's a link. This companion piece tracks the best-selling albums of each of the past 20 years..

The albums cover a wide range. They include four soundtracks, four rap albums, two rock albums, two country albums, two R&B albums, two albums by "boy bands," an album by a "girl group" and even a Christmas album..

Here are the best-selling albums from each of the past 20 years. The sales tally is the number of albums sold in that calendar year. Note: The records and superlatives cited set apply only to the Nielsen SoundScan era, not to all of chart history. .

1992: Billy Ray Cyrus, Some Gave All, 4,832,000. This is the only album by a male country artist to rank as the year's top-seller. (Sorry, Garth Brooks.) The album spawned the top five sing-a-long smash, "Achy Breaky Heart.".

1993: Whitney Houston & Various Artists, The Bodyguard, 5,460,000. This was the first album to sell 5 million copies in a calendar year. It was the first of three albums to be the year's best-seller and also win a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album spawned three top five hits: "I Will Always Love You," "I'm Every Woman" and "I Have Nothing.".

1994: Soundtrack, The Lion King, 4,934,000. This is the only soundtrack to an animated movie to rank as the year's top-seller. The album spawned Elton John's top five hit "Can You Feel The Love Tonight." The album also contains four tracks by film scorer Hans Zimmer. The long-running Broadway show of the same name opened in November 1997..

1995: Hootie & the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View, 7,020,000. This was the first album to sell 7 million copies in a calendar year. The album spawned three top 10 hits: "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry" and "Only Want To Be With You." Lead singer Darius Rucker went on to become a top country star..

1996: Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill, 7,380,000. This is the only album by a Canadian artist to wind up as the year's top-seller. (Sorry, Justin Bieber.) The album spawned three top 10 hits: "Ironic," "You Learn" and "Head Over Feet." This won a Grammy as Album of the Year. An acoustic version of the album was released in 2005..

1997: Spice Girls, Spice, 5,302,000. This is the only album by a British artist to wind up as the year's top-seller. (Adele may follow suit this year.) Also, this is the only album by a "girl group" to wind up as the year's top-seller. The album spawned three top five hits: "Wannabe," "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1.".

1998: Soundtrack, Titanic, 9,338,000. This was the first album to sell 9 million copies in a calendar year. Also, this is the only (mostly) instrumental album to wind up as the year's top-seller. The album features James Horner's instrumental score and one vocal track: Celine Dion's chest-thumping #1 smash "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From ‘Titanic').".

1999: Backstreet Boys, Millennium, 9,446,000. This was the first album by a "boy band" to wind up as the year's top-seller. The album spawned the top 10 hits "I Want It That Way" and "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely." This was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year..

2000: *NSYNC, No Strings Attached, 9,936,000. This album sold more copies in a calendar year than any other album in the history of the music business. The album spawned three top five hits: "Bye Bye Bye," "It's Gonna Be Me" and "This I Promise You." Justin Timberlake went on to become a multi-media superstar..
2001: Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory, 4,813,000. This is the hardest rocking album to wind up as the year's best-seller. It's also the only album that didn't reach #1 on the weekly charts (it spent four weeks at #2) to wind up as the year's top-seller. The album spawned the top five hit "In The End.".

2002: Eminem, The Eminem Show, 7,608,000. This was the first rap album (and the first album to carry a Parental Advisory sticker) to wind up as the year's best-seller. This was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album spawned the top five hits "Without Me" and "Cleanin' Out My Closet.".

2003: 50 Cent, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', 6,536,000. This is the only year-end top-seller that later inspired a movie of the same name. 50 Cent and Terrence Howard starred in the 2005 movie. The album spawned three top five hits: "In Da Club," "21 Questions" (featuring Nate Dogg) and "P.I.M.P.".

2004: Usher, Confessions, 7,979,000. This is the only album by a male R&B/pop artist to wind up as the year's best-seller. This was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album contained four #1 hits: "Yeah!" (featuring Lil Jon & Ludacris), "Burn," "Confessions Part II" and "My Boo" (a collabo with Alicia Keys which was later added to a "Special Edition" of the album.).

2005: Mariah Carey, The Emancipation Of Mimi, 4,969,000. This is the only album by a female R&B/pop artist to wind up as the year's best-seller. This was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album contained three top five hits: "We Belong Together," "Shake It Off" and "Don't Forget About Us" (which was later added to a "Platinum Edition" of the album.).

2006: Various Artists, High School Musical soundtrack, 3,719,000. This is the only TV soundtrack to wind up as the year's top-seller. The album spawned the top five hit "Breaking Free" by Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu have gone on to land chart albums of their own. A sequel, High School Musical 2, was the #2 album of 2007..

2007: Josh Groban, Noel, 3,699,000. This is the only Christmas album to wind up as the year's top-seller. (Sorry, Kenny G.) Two songs from the album "bubbled under" the Hot 100: "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "The First Noel" (a collabo with Faith Hill)..

2008: Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III, 2,874,000. This is the only sequel to wind up as the year's top-seller. It was the third album in Tha Carter series, which dates back to 2004. Also, this is the only album to wind up as the year's top-seller that didn't sell 3 million copies during the year. This was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album spawned three top 10 hits: "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major), "A Milli" and "Got Money (featuring T-Pain)..

2009: Taylor Swift, Fearless, 3,217,000. Swift, who was just 20, is the youngest artist to have the year's top-selling album. Also, this is the only album by a female country artist to wind up as the year's best-seller. (Sorry Shania Twain.) This won a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album contained five top 10 hits: "Change," "Fearless," "Love Story," "You Belong With Me" and "Jump Then Fall" (which was later added to a "Platinum Edition" of the album.).

2010: Eminem, Recovery, 3,415,000. Eminem is the only artist to have the year's top selling album twice. Also, Eminem, who was 38, was the oldest solo artist to have the year's top-seller. This was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year. The album spawned the #1 hits "Not Afraid" and "Love The Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna)..

2011: Adele, 21, 1,554,000 (so far). Adele is vying to become the first British solo artist to have the year's top-selling album. The album has spawned the #1 hit "Rolling In The Deep." The album is the front-runner to win a Grammy as Album of the Year
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*source : Yahoo Music , Chart Watch Blog ( new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/;_ylt=Aitcyap5SHRDLK3ZMrUez2gPwiUv )

[Meems Wide Awake]

The top 20 music retailers:

1. iTunes 32.98%
2. Anderson/Walmart 10.66%
3. Best Buy 8.68%
4. Target 7.79%
5. Amazon 6.88%
6. Alliance Entertainment 5.66%
7. Trans World 3.47%
8. Verizon 1.78%
9. Rhapsody 1.61%
10. Super D 1.57%

11. Hastings Entertainment 1.05%
12. Borders 0.88%
13. The Edge 0.73%
14. Baker & Taylor 0.68%
15. Sprint Nextel 0.67%
16. Hot Topic 0.57%
17. Microsoft (Zune+Xbox+MSN) 0.55%
18. T-Moble 0.53%
19. eMusic 0.46%
20. AT&T 0.42%

These top 20 retailers accounted for 87.62% of the music industry’s $6.9 billion in revenue last year. Only 45.26% of sales were in brick-and-mortar stores. YouTube and Vevo each have 0.40% of the market.

[Meems Wide Awake]

This week predictions :

Yesterday was the Memorial Day Stat Holiday, so HDD did not issue any sales reports. I expect they will have one today since the news is so big. Billlboard is predicting that Gaga will move 1.15 units this week which is the biggest opening since ‘NSYNC moved 1.88M units back in 2001. Those numbers have been juiced by Amazon selling the album for 99cents for two days last week, a Monday opening and a performance on Idol

The 99cent sale has not been without controversy. Many feel that such bargain basement sales should not be counted alongside full price album sales. The Editor of Billboard has been besieged by angry Britney fans who do not want to see her record fall (best debut by a female artist) and are still smarting from a last minute chart change that prevented her “Blackout” album from completing her chain of number 1 debuting albums. The Editor released a column explaining his logic and pointing out that Amazon is paying the full wholesale rate for the album and is taking the loss on the sales.

Here are some staggering statistics from her first day of sales:
Total: 500K
Amazon: 300K (110K on Thursday)
iTunes: 104K (200K for week)
Best Buy: 45K (200K for week)
Target: 35K (150K for week)
Starbucks: 10K
Wal-mart: (125K for week)

Billboard has already been announced that Gaga sold 215K albums in the UK last week which was more than the rest of the top 10 sold combined.

For now, here are the numbers HDD was predicting on Friday:
*Lady Gaga (Interscope) 1m+
*Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville) 145-155k
Adele (XL/Columbia) 125-135k
*Glee Cast Vol. 6 (Columbia) 75-80k
Now 38 (Capitol/EMI) 45-50k
*Maybach Music Group Presents: Self Made, Vol. 1 (Maybach/WB) 45-50k
*NKOTBSB (Columbia/Jive/Legacy) 35-40k
*Journey (Nomota) 25-30k (Wal-Mart exclusive)
*Foster The People (Startime/Columbia) 25-30k
Mumford & Sons (Glassnote) 24-27k
Seether (Wind-up) 21-24k
Beastie Boys (Capitol/EMI) 18-21k
Lady Gaga The Fame (Interscope) 18-21k
Lemonade Mouth (Walt Disney) 18-21k
Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop) 18-21k

[Meems Wide Awake]

Week ending 5 / 29

As previously reported, Lady Gaga comes in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart as her "Born This Way" set sold 1,108,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. That marks the largest sales week for any album since 2005 and the 17th set to shift a million units in a week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.

Country superstar Brad Paisley arrives at No. 2 behind Mother Monster with "This Is Country Music," bowing with 153,000. It's his third album to hit No. 2, following "Time Well Wasted" (2005) and "American Saturday Night" (2009). He's yet to claim a No. 1 set though -- "This Is Country Music" marks his seventh top 10 album. (He can take solace, perhaps, in how "This Is Country Music" lands him his sixth No. 1 on our Top Country Albums chart.)

Last week's No. 1, Adele's "21," slides to No. 3 with 126,000 (down 8%) while "Glee, the Music: Season Two, Volume 6" enters at No. 4 with 80,000. For the latter, it's Fox TV show's 11th release -- all of which have debuted in the top 10. Its 80,000 start is the lowest bow of any "Glee" set, save for the "Rocky Horror Glee Show" EP (48,000).

The "Maybach Music Group Presents Self Made Vol. 1" compilation debuts at No. 5 (59,000) while the "Now 38" various artists set slips three rungs to No. 6 (45,000; down 10%). The New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys compilation/collaboration album titled "NKOTBSB" (and billed to NKOTBSB) dances in at No. 7 with 40,000. The 13-track set includes five greatest hits from each group along with three new collaborations: "All in My Head," "Don't Turn Out the Lights" and "NKOTBSB Mash Up." It's the eighth consecutive top 10 for Backstreet Boys (its entire output of releases) and the fifth top 10 for the New Kids.

New group Foster the People, which has been percolating for a number of months now with its single "Pumped Up Kicks," sees its debut full-length album "Torches" start at No. 8 with 33,000. "Kicks" bowed on our Rock Songs tally on Jan. 29 and reached a peak of No. 7 last week. "Torches" saw 70% of its first week come from downloads, an unsurprising number as the iTunes Store promoted the set last week, offering its "Helena Beat" as its free single of the week.

Rounding out the top 10 albums are Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party," slipping five spots to No. 9 -- though with a gain (33,000; up 14%), and Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More," also dropping five, to No. 10 (25,000; down less than 1%).

Just outside the top 10, "American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery sees his "American Idol Season 10" digital hits album bow with 23,000 downloads. Last year, Lee DeWyze's similar best-of did 2,000 in its first week, while 2009 champ Kris Allen premiered with 10,000 of his digital set. (2009 runner-up Adam Lambert actually sold more than Allen with his "Favorite Performances" set, as it moved 16,000 in its first week.)

McCreery is also the big news on the Digital Songs chart, as his coronation single "I Love You This Big" debuts at No. 3 with 171,000 downloads sold. It's the best debut sales week for an "Idol" winner's first single since David Cook did 236,000 with "The Time of My Life" in 2008.

2011 "Idol" runner-up Lauren Alaina just misses the top 10, as her "Like My Mother Does" arrives at No. 11 with 121,000.

Back in the top 10, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" continues to hold at No. 1 with 254,000 (down 14%) while Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" (featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer) is steady at No. 2 (210,000; down 1%). Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" rises 14-4 (165,000; up 74%) -- no surprise considering her multiple performances of the song last week on TV ("Saturday Night Live," "Good Morning America" and "American Idol").

DJ Khaled's "I'm On One" (featuring Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne) is the second-highest new entry, starting at No. 5 with 159,000, while LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" slides two spots to No. 6 with 154,000 (down 5%). Katy Perry's "E.T." slips four rungs to No. 7 (148,000; down 14%), Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song" falls two to No. 8 (138,000; down 5%) and Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor" dances down two spots to No. 9 (130,000; down 6%). Closing out the top 10 is Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass," which falls one position to No. 10, though it's up 13% (128,000).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 29) totaled 6.67 million units, up 23% compared to the sum last week (5.41 million) and up 34% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (4.98 million). Year to date album sales stand at 125.86 million, up less than 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (125.42 million). It's the first time we've had a year over year gain in album sales since the sales week ending Jan. 22, 2006, when we were up by 2%.

Digital track sales this past week totaled 24.69 million downloads, up 2% compared to last week (24.28 million) and up 14% stacked next to the comparable week of 2010 (21.75 million). Year to date track sales are at 536.14 million, up 10% compared to the same total at this point last year (488.01 million).
Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2010 when: Jack Johnson's "To the Sea" set sail at No. 1 with 243,000 while the previous week's leader, "Glee, the Music: The Showstoppers," fell to No. 3 with 45,000 (down 29%).

www.billboard.com/#/news/lady-gaga-tops-billboard-200-brad-paisley-1005208612.story

The Top Ten

Lady Gaga, Born This Way (1.108 million)
Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music (153,000)
Adele, 21 (126,000)
Glee Cast, Glee: The Music, Vol. 6 (80,000)
Various, MMG Presents: Self Made, Vol. 1 (59,000)
Various, Now That's What I Call Music! 38 (45,000)
NKOTBSB, NKOTBSB (40,000)
Foster the People, Torches (33,000)
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party (33,000)
Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More (25,000)

Idol albums

Scotty McCreery, American Idol Season 10: Scotty McCreery (23,000, debut, 23,000) (#12 Billboard 200)
Lauren Alaina, American Idol Season 10: Lauren Alaina (11,000, debut, 11,000)
Jennifer Hudson, I Remember Me (5,000, -17%, 338,000) (#84 BB200)
Carrie Underwood, Play On (3,000, +42%, 2.004 million)
Mandisa, What If We Were Real (3,000, -13%, 37,000)
Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts (2,000, +35%, 7.108 million)
Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride (2,000, +56%, 3.197 million)

Idol-related

Lady Gaga, Born This Way (1.108 million, debut, 1.111 million) (No. 1 Billboard 200)
Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music (feat. Carrie Underwood duet, Remind Me) (153,000, debut, 153,000) (#2 BB200)
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party (33,000, +14%, 1.237 million) (#9 BB200)
Il Volo, Il Volo (19,000, -17%, 43,000) (#15 BB200)
Jennifer Lopez, Love? (18,000, -18%, 156,000) (#18 BB200)
Kirk Franklin, Hello Fear (12,000, 0 change, 255,000) (#36 BB200)
Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (9,000, +81%, 104,000) (#52 BB200)
Tim McGraw, Number One Hits (6,000, +43%, 362,000) (#67 BB200)
Big Time Rush, BTR (6,000, -7%, 503,000) (#75 BB200)
Matthew Morrison, Matthew Morrison (5,000, -41%, 31,000) (#85 BB200)
Josh Turner, Icon (5,000, +49%, 33,000) (#98 BB200)
Aerosmith, Best of Aerosmith: The Millennium Collection (4,000, -5%, 279,000) (#103 BB200)
outboundlink.net/anxo/dr_ta_1/goto.php?DR_id=1072&SID=47okj9gsdl&linkout=http%3A//content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2011/06/lady-gaga-sells-11-million-scotty-mccreery-debuts-at-no-12/1

Country Albums :
New 2 Brad Paisley This Is Country Music 152,598 152,953
4 9 Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 32,695 1,237,081
New 10 Scotty McCreery American Idol 10 23,196 23,196
34 23 Zac Brown Band You Get What You Give 15,920 935,254
46 24 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This 15,892 843,040
29 25 Taylor Swift Speak Now 15,763 3,435,587
43 37 The Band Perry The Band Perry 11,764 569,385
47 40 Lady Anthebellum Need You Now 10,734 3,511,445
New 41 Lauren Alaina American Idol 10 10,651 10,651
57 44 Sara Evans Stronger 10,089 198,250
42 48 Alison Krauss/Union Station Paper Airplane 9,598 206,313
82 49 Blake Shelton Loaded…Best of Blake… 9,216 273,153
53 62 Colt Ford Every Chance I Get 7,226 45,736
104 65 Tim McGraw Number One Hits 6,370 361,660
87 67 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 6,332 2,621,766
65 69 Original Soundtrack Country Strong 6,234 279,218
79 70 Kenny Chesney Hemingway's Whiskey 6,142 823,818
66 77 Randy Travis Randy Travis 5,689 26,112
72 78 Miranda Lambert Revolution 5,667 1,320,050
71 80 Aaron Lewis Town Line 5,405 154,459
84 85 Sugarland The Incredible Machine 5,027 993,735
154 90 Josh Turner ICON 4,583 33,210
89 91 Thompson Square Thomspon Square 4,556 171,047
re-enter 123 Billy Currington ICON 3,712 31,588
127 126 Billy Currington Enjoy Yourself 3,585 322,214
95 51 Civil Wars Barton Hollow 8,962 103,743
162 158 Jerrod Niemann Judge Jerrod/Hung Jury 4,317 311,580
New 173 Frankie Ballard Frankie Ballard 2,775 2,793
Re 173 Steve Martin/Steep Canyon… Rare Bird Alert 2,684 50,617
New 198 John Rich For The Kids 2,483 4,181
www.roughstock.com/blog/this-is-country-music-and-we-dominate-the-charts-this-week

[Meems Wide Awake]

Ok! this is for fun! & silly numbers! ;D

Alicia Keys:
Songs in A Minor - 6,243,280
The Diary of Alicia Keys - 4,638,705
As I Am - 3,784,161
The Element of Freedom - 1,500,840

Avril Lavigne:
Let Go - 6,766,963
Under My Skin - 3,094,483
The Best Damn Thing - 1,642,266
Goodbye Lullaby - 217,439

Beyonce:
Dangerously In Love - 4,778,655
B'Day - 3,296,307
I Am...Sasha Fierce - 2,940,548

Brandy:
Brandy - 2,184,960
Never Say Never - 4,584,742
Full Moon - 476,262
Afrodisiac - 421,359
The Best of Brandy - 179,613
Human - 210,045

Britney Spears:
...Baby One More Time - 10,556,897
Oops! I Did It Again - 9,202,039
Britney - 4,361,461
In The Zone - 2,993,677
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative - 1,408,370
Blackout - 997,829
Circus - 1,672,978
Femme Fatale - 518,692

Carrie Underwood:
Some Hearts - 7,106,281
Carnival Ride - 3,195,154
Play On - 2,000,727

Celine Dion:
Unison - 1,227,454
Celine Dion - 2,340,078
The Colour of My Love - 4,514,396
Falling Into You - 10,787,262
Let's Talk About Love - 9,482,710
These Are Special Times - 5,174,054
All The Way...A Decade of Song - 7,952,580
A New Day Has Come - 3,300,494
One Heart - 1,792,581
Miracle - 946,595
Taking Chances - 1,067,236

Cher:
Heart of Stone - 962,460
Believe - 3,612,334
Living Proof - 501,979
If I Could Turn Back Time - 949,666
The Very Best - 2,557,803

Christina Aguilera:
Christina Aguilera - 8,214,171
My Kind of Christmas - 853,961
Stripped - 4,284,152
Back to Basics - 1,702,445
Keeps Gettin' Better - 431,091
Bionic - 284,518
Burlesque - 407,730

Faith Hill:
Take Me As I Am - 1,549,523
It Matters To Me - 2,056,646
Faith - 3,379,709
Breathe - 6,523,630
There You'll Be - 236,555
Cry - 2,726,824
Fireflies - 2,245,716

Gwen Stefani/No Doubt:
No Doubt - 331,410
The Beacon Street Collection - 115,711
Tragic Kingdom - 8,142,423
Return of Saturn - 1,583,659
Rock Steady - 2,839,778
The Singles 1992-2003 - 2,455,492
Love Angel Music Baby - 3,986,513
The Sweet Escape - 1,714,226

Hilary Duff:
Metamorphosis - 3,956,333
Hilary Duff - 1,792,692
Most Wanted - 1,474,305
Dignity - 408,884

Janet Jackson:
Control - 505,018
Rhythm Nation 1814 - 1,389,047
janet - 7,025,727
Design of a Decade - 2,439,001
Velvet Rope - 3,237,266
All For You - 3,108,795
Damita Jo - 1,004,428
20 Y.O. - 657,773
Discipline - 451,209

Jennifer Lopez:
On the 6 - 2,819,825
J.Lo - 3,805,927
J to tha L-O - 1,497,068
This Is Me...Then - 2,593,784
Rebirth - 741,047
Brave - 167,011
Love - 138,392

Jessica Simpson:
Sweet Kisses - 1,938,756
Irresistible - 756,058
In This Skin - 2,924,955
Rejoyce - 672,632
A Public Affair - 300,821
Do You Know - 186,457
Happy Christmas - 27,834

Kelly Clarkson:
Thankful - 2,748,222
Breakaway - 6,172,459
My December - 817,910
All I Ever Wanted - 918,292

Lady Gaga:
The Cherrytree Sessions EP - 17,500
The Fame - 4,182,189
The Fame Monster EP - 1,464,604
The Remix - 218,776

Leona Lewis:
Spirit - 1,677,183
Echo - 216,159

Madonna:
Madonna - 454,001
Like a Virgin - 577,159
True Blue - 407,733
Who's That Girl? - 50,840
You Can Dance - 266,122
Like a Prayer - 578,468
I'm Breathless - 241,061
The Immaculate Collection - 5,797,180
Erotica - 1,894,092
Bedtime Stories - 2,314,146
Something to Remember - 2,090,586
Evita - 2,008,556
Ray of Light - 3,846,141
Music - 2,945,534
GHV2 - 1,390,905
American Life - 685,112
Remixed and Revisited - 129,658
Confessions on a Dance Floor - 1,708,294
Hard Candy - 738,186
Celebration - 289,060

Mariah Carey:
Mariah Carey - 4,850,910
Emotions - 3,590,874
MTV Unplugged - 2,769,151
Music Box - 7,210,536
Merry Christmas - 5,123,017
Daydream - 7,579,664
Butterfly - 3,763,428
#1's - 3,754,091
Rainbow - 2,957,278
Glitter - 647,085
Charmbracelet - 1,157,206
The Emancipation of Mimi - 5,953,333
E=MC2 - 1,279,388
Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel - 523,446
Merry Christmas 2 You - 436,935

Mary J. Blige:
What's the 411? - 3,339,141
My Life - 2,843,567
Share My World - 2,794,343
Mary - 2,139,580
No More Drama - 1,865,922
Love & Life - 974,497
The Breakthrough - 3,103,390
Reflections - 844,743
Growing Pains - 1,679,894
Stronger with Each Tear - 861,517

Miley Cyrus:
Hannah Montana - 3,726,601
Hannah Montana 2 - 3,265,393
Breakout - 1,586,522
Hannah Montana: The Movie - 2,044,830
Hannah Montana 3 - 650,659
The Time of Our Lives - 1,433,992
Can't Be Tamed - 319,990
Hannah Montana Forever - 257,203

Nelly Furtado:
Whoa, Nelly - 2,490,041
Folklore - 428,150
Loose - 2,111,080
Mi Plan - 43,935
The Very Best - 12,659

P!nk:
Can't Take Me Home - 2,461,375
Missundaztood - 5,530,909
Try This - 755,869
I'm Not Dead - 1,544,888
Funhouse - 1,899,803
Greatest Hits...So Far!!! - 755,124

Rihanna:
Music of the Sun - 597,336
A Girl Like Me - 1,33,4131
Good Girl Gone Bad - 2,681,329
Rated R - 1,049,600
Loud - 1,270,733

Shania Twain:
Shania Twain - 885,483
The Woman In Me - 7,661,419
Come On Over - 15,504,652
Up! - 5,403,838
Greatest Hits - 4,074,565

Taylor Swift:
Taylor Swift - 5,017,427
Beautiful Eyes - 257,529
Fearless - 6,306,437
Speak Now - 3,419,824

Whitney Houston:
Whitney Houston - 1,079,941
Whitney - 990,578
I'm Your Baby Tonight - 1,741,739
The Bodyguard - 11,825,280
The Preacher's Wife - 2,486,116
My Love is Your Love - 2,793,036
The Greatest Hits - 1,723,768
Just Whitney - 758,543
One Wish - 477,464
I Look To You - 973,786


NOTE: Those numbers are ONLY during the Soundscan era! which means from May , 1991 'till now! . ALSO , not all the album sales were counted during the first years of Soundscan ( only ~60% were counted! ) . So , big names like Madonna & Janet Jackson have HUGE sales during the 80s aren't counted here! Those numbers are Soundscan only numbers!

[Meems Wide Awake]

With this week's sales report from Nielsen SoundScan comes news that 2011's year-to-date album-sales total of 125.86 million as of May 29, represents 0.35% increase over the 125.42 million units scanned in the corresponding period in the prior year. That translates into 445,000 more album-unit sales in 2011 than in 2010. How's last week's estimated Gaga Amazon sales total of approximately 450,000 copies looking right about now?

The last time U.S. album sales showed an increase was in January of 2006 when, after the first three weeks of the year, album sales showed a 1.6% increase to 30.3 million units for the week ending Jan. 22, up from 29.8 million in the corresponding period of 2005. The following week of that year, when album sales were down 4.7%, year-to-date album sales fell into the red, with sales down 0.0006%.

So from late January of 2006 until this week, year-to-date sales have been consistently down, leaving industry optimists to joke that flat is the new up, although at times things seemed so grim that the expression progressed to 5% down is the new up.

Digital Album Sales To Date: 40.6M, up 19.2% (34M at this point last year which was up 14.3% from 2009)
Physical Album Sales To Date: 84M, down 7.2% (past four years, decline has been 20%)
Catalog Album Sales: up 6.2%

Moreover, in 13 of the last 15 weeks, U.S. album sales have enjoyed weekly year-over-year sales gains, after beginning the year with six straight weeks of sales decline.

That accomplishment looks even more dramatic when you consider that during the four-year period of 2007-2010, the U.S. music industry wasn't able to muster two back-to-back weekly album-sales gains.

Billboard

[Meems Wide Awake]

Week Ending 6/5

Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" continues to rule the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second week as the set shifts 174,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's down a steep 84% from its historic 1,108,000 start last week.

While it's not unusual for albums that enter with mighty big sales frames to tumble hard in week number two, Gaga's fall is amplified, courtesy of AmazonMP3.

As "Born This Way's" first week was bolstered in a most-unusual way by likely hundreds of thousands of sales generated by AmazonMP3's decision to sell the digital version of the set for 99-cents on two separate days, its second-week fall appears even greater than what we normally see for blockbuster sellers.

At the rate of Gaga's decline, we could see Adele's "21" (No. 2 this week, up one slot, with 121,000 - down 4%) return to the penthouse very soon.

The top debut this week belongs to Death Cab For Cutie's "Codes and Keys," which starts at No. 3 with 102,000. It's the follow-up to the band's No. 1 2008 album "Narrow Stairs" (144,000 in its debut). While the new album is off a chunk from "Narrow's" debut, it still marks the act's second-best sales frame. Notably, downloads made up 57% of "Codes'" opening week.

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder sees his bare-bones "Ukulele Songs" album arrive at No. 4 with 71,000 -- marking the first top 10 solo record for the rock icon. He previously charted on his own with the "Into the Wild" soundtrack, which debuted and peaked at No. 11 in 2007 off a 39,000 start.

Right behind Vedder is My Morning Jacket with its latest, "Circuital," bowing at No. 5 with 55,000. It's the best sales week and highest charting set for the group, whose previous high-water mark came with "Evil Urges'" bow at No. 9 with 49,000 three years ago.

The final debut in the top 10 comes courtesy of Flogging Molly's "Speed of Darkness," launching at No. 9 with 25,000. It's the second top 10 effort for the group. Its last studio release, 2008's "Float," debuted and peaked at No. 4 with 48,000.

As for the rest of the top 10, Brad Paisley's "This Is Country Music" slips four rungs to No. 6 in its second week (53,000; down 65%) and the "Now 38" set is down one to No. 7 (39,000; down 13%). Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" rises a slot to No. 8 (33,000; up 1%) and "Glee, the Music: Season Two, Volume Six" slides six to No. 10 (25,000; down 68%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending June 5) totaled 5.52 million units, down 17% compared to the sum last week (6.67 million) and up 7% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (5.16 million). Year to date album sales stand at 131.39 million, up 1% compared to the same total at this point last year (130.58 million). We've now racked up two weeks in a row where year-to-date album volume is greater than the same time in the prior year.

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2010 when: "Glee's" "Journey to Regionals" EP bowed at No. 1 with 154,000 while the "Twilight: Eclipse" soundtrack entered at No. 2 with 146,000. At No. 3, Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" completed the all-debut top three with 111,000.
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Country Albums :
2 6 Brad Paisley This Is Country Music 54,990 205,755
9 8 Jason Aldean My Kinda Party 33,095 1,270,176
23 17 Zac Brown Band You Get What You Give 15,805 951,059
25 20 Taylor Swift Speak Now 15,243 3,450,836
24 34 Rascal Flatts Nothing Like This 11,687 854,727
37 37 The Band Perry The Band Perry 10,591 579,976
40 39 Lady Anthebellum Need You Now 10,388 3,521,833
48 49 Alison Krauss/Union Station Paper Airplane 9,146 215,459
44 53 Sara Evans Stronger 8,826 207,076
12 55 Scotty McCreery American Idol 10 8,060 31,256
42 48 Blake Shelton Loaded…Best of Blake… 7,757 280,910
70 59 Kenny Chesney Hemingway's Whiskey 6,992 830,805
67 64 Zac Brown Band The Foundation 6,455 2,328,221
62 66 Colt Ford Every Chance I Get 6,273 52,009
87 67 Original Soundtrack Country Strong 5,943 285,161
65 69 Tim McGraw Number One Hits 5,938 367,598
78 74 Miranda Lambert Revolution 5,645 1,325,695
80 86 Aaron Lewis Town Line 4,941 159,400
85 92 Sugarland The Incredible Machine 4,533 998,268
91 97 Thompson Square Thompson Square 4,260 175,307
126 122 Billy Currington Enjoy Yourself 3,648 325,862
140 141 Eric Church Carolina 3,187 467,418
41 170 Lauren Alaina American Idol 10 2,654 13,305
178 177 Keith Urban Get Closer 2,549 594,791
RE-Entry 190 Brantley Gilbert Halfway To Heaven 2,430 116,900
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