Little-known singer claims No. 1 spot
Little-known singer claims No. 1 spot - Nineteen-year-old Mac Miller had only one novelty hit before his album shot up the charts. Week Ending Nov. 13, 2011. Albums: From “Donald Trump” to #1. Just five months ago, Mac Miller was best known for a novelty rap hit about, of all people, Donald Trump. This week, the 19-year old rapper has the #1 album on The Billboard 200. Blue Slide Park enters the chart higher than the hit-studded Now 40 and the latest Twilight soundtrack, which boasts a big hit by Bruno Mars.
Blue Slide Park is the second debut album by a rap artist to open in the top spot in the past seven weeks (following J. Cole's Cole World: The Sideline Story). This reconfirms that rap fans are among the most active and plugged-in music fans. Digital sales accounted for the lion's share of the album's first week sales (109K out of 144K).
Miller's strong debut is a triumph of social networking. Miller has a combined 2.7 million followers on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.
The album was preceded by the viral hits "Donald Trump," which has sold 441K copies, and "Knock Knock," which has sold 336K copies. Miller also released an EP, On And On And Beyond, and a series of seven mixtapes, including one with the Ill Spoken.
Blue Slide Park is the fourth album by a teenaged artist to reach #1 so far this year, which makes this the year with the most #1 albums by teenaged artists. Justin Bieber has had two #1 albums this year. Never Say Never—The Remixes hit #1 in February. Under The Mistletoe hit #1 last week. Scotty McCreery's debut album Clear As Day hit #1 five weeks ago. Of these three artists, only Bieber fits the usual mold of a teen idol.
Michael Buble's Christmas rebounds from #8 to #2 in its third week. This is its highest ranking to date. Buble's album extends its lead over Justin Bieber's Under The Mistletoe as the best-selling holiday album so far this year. Buble's album has sold 353K copies in three weeks. Bieber's has sold 307K in two.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 soundtrack bows at #4. This is the highest ranking for a soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie since Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy hit #4 in January. This is the fourth album in the Twilight series to reach the top five. It follows Twilight (#1 in 2008), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (#1 in 2009) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (#2 in 2010).
In terms of generating top 10 soundtrack albums, Twilight is one of the most successful movie series in history. It is second only to the Star Wars franchise, which has spawned five top 10 soundtracks: Star Wars (#2 in 1977), The Empire Strikes Back (#4 in 1980), Episode I--The Phantom Menace (#3 in 1999), Episode II: Attack Of The Clones (#6 in 2002) and Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (#6 in 2005).
The Batman franchise is in third place with three top 10 albums: Prince's Batman (#1 in 1989), Batman Forever (#5 in 1995) and Batman & Robin (#5 in 1997).
Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain," the key single from the album, will probably break into the top 10 on this week's Hot 100. It's the biggest hit from any of the Twilight soundtracks. It tops Paramore's "Decode" from Twilight, which peaked at #33.
Adele's 21, which holds at #5 for the second week, tops 100K in weekly sales for the 24th time. It's the first album to achieve this feat since Usher's Confessions topped 100K in weekly sales 33 times in 2004. Adele pulls ahead of Mariah Carey's The Emancipation Of Mimi, which topped 100K in weekly sales 23 times in 2005.
Susan Boyle's Someone To Watch Over Me drops from #4 to #7 in its second week. It fares better in the U.K., where it debuts at #1. It's Boyle's third consecutive #1 in her home country.
Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto, which dips from #7 to #8, this week tops Foo Fighters' Wasting Light as the best-selling rock album released in 2011. Mylo Xyloto has sold 622K copies. Wasting Light has sold 608K. One 2010 holdover, Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More, has sold slightly more copies in 2011 (1,282,000) than these two other albums combined.
Romeo Santos' solo debut Formula Vol. 1 debuts at #9. Santos is the former leader of the Latin group Aventura, which reached #5 on The Billboard 200 in 2009 with The Last. The first single from Santos' new album, "Promise," featuring Usher, is on the Hot 100. The two stars performed it on last week's Latin Grammy Awards. The album also features contributions from Lil Wayne, Pitbull and George Lopez.
Simon Cowell played a key role in the careers of two artists in this week's top 10. He's a judge on Britain's Got Talent, whose 2009 runner-up Susan Boyle remains in the top 10. And he created the pop/opera quartet Il Divo, which debuts in the top 10 with its new album, Wicked Game.
Taylor Swift's "If This Was A Movie" and "Ours" enter Hot Digital Songs at #3 and #5, respectively. Will either or both crack the top 10 on the Hot 100? You'll find out later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.
Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums.
1. Mac Miller, Blue Slide Park, 144,000. This new entry sold 109K digital copies, which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Smile Back," which debuts at #27.
2. Michael Buble, Christmas, 123,000. The album rebounds from #8 to #2 in its third week. This is its highest ranking to date. Will it become Buble's third #1 album? Stay tuned.
3. Various Artists, Now 40, 119,000. This new entry is the 38th regular installment in this series to debut in the top five.
4. Various Artists, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 soundtrack, 105,000. This new entry is the week's #1 soundtrack, displacing Footloose. Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain" jumps from #10 to #8 on Hot Digital Songs.
5. Adele, 21, 104,000. The former #1 album holds at #5 for the second week in its 38th week on the chart. Five songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Someone Like You," which drops from #3 to #6.
6. Justin Bieber, Under The Mistletoe, 97,000. The former #1 album drops to #6 in its second week. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Mistletoe" jumps from #68 to #62. "Drummer Boy" (featuring Busta Rhymes) drops from #62 to #200.
7. Susan Boyle, Someone To Watch Over Me, 72,000. The album drops from #4 to #7 in its second week. It has sold 203K copies in its first two weeks.
8. Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto, 70,000. The former #1 album dips from #7 to #8 in its third week. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Paradise," which jumps from #24 to #21.
9. Romeo Santos, Formula Vol. 1, 62,000. This new entry is Santos' second top 10 album, counting an album he recorded with his former group, Aventura. "Promise" (featuring Usher) jumps from #193 to #125 on Hot Digital Songs.
10. Il Divo, Wicked Game, 61,000. This new entry is the pop/classical quartet's fifth top 10 album. Il Divo's only album to fall short of the top 10 was its 2005 Christmas album, which peaked at #14.
Miranda Lambert's Four The Record drops from #3 to #11. It nonetheless holds at #1 on Top Country Albums for the second week. Four other albums drop out of the top 10. Wale's Ambition drops from #2 to #15, Florence + the Machine's Ceremonials drops from #6 to #12, Tyrese's Open Invitation drops from #9 to #18, and Kelly Clarkson's Stronger drops from #10 to #19.
Disturbed's The Lost Children, a compilation of B sides, bows at #13. The band's last four studio albums all reached #1…Tech N9ne's Welcome To Strangeland bows at #21. This snaps a string of five straight top 20 albums.
Noel Gallagher's solo debut, High Flying Birds, debuts at #28. This is about on par with the debut in March of the first album by Gallagher's former Oasis colleagues Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer and Andy Bell. Those musicians, under the band name Beady Eye, debuted at #31 with Different Gear, Still Speeding. (That album collapsed after its so-so debut and has sold just 29K copies to date.) Oasis reached its chart peak in August 1997 when Be Here Now debuted at #2.
Pink Floyd's 1975 chart-topper, Wish You Were Here, re-enters the chart at #33. It's #1 on Top Catalog Albums, dethroning Adele's 19. This is the first time that Wish You Were Here has topped the catalog chart. All three of Pink Floyd's #1 albums that were released in the 1970s have topped this chart. The Dark Side Of The Moon has spent 22 weeks at #1 on the catalog chart, most recently just six weeks ago. The Wall spent one week on top in 1994. Both of these other albums are climbing The Billboard 200 this week. Dark Side jumps from #111 to #95. The Wall jumps from #186 to #164.
Keith Sweat's In The Morning bows at #38. The R&B star first cracked the top 40 in February 1988 with his debut album, Make It Last Forever.
Immortals was #1 at the box-office over the weekend. The soundtrack, featuring Trevor Morris' score, didn't sell enough copies to crack The Billboard 200.
Rush's Time Machine 2011 enters Top Music Videos at #1, with first-week sales of 22K. That's the highest weekly sales tally for a music video so far this year. This is Rush's fifth #1 on Top Music Videos. It follows Rush In Rio (one week on top in 2003), Replay X 3 (one week in 2006), Snakes And Arrows (one week in 2006) and Beyond The Lighted Stage (10 weeks in 2010).
Coming Attractions: Drake's Take Care is expected to debut at #1 next week, with first-week sales in the 700K range. Two other albums are eyeing top 10 debuts: Glee: The Music: The Christmas Album, Volume 2 and Andrea Bocelli's Concerto One Night In Central Park. Also due: Childish Gambino's Camp, Webbie's Savage Life 3, Alvin and the Chipmunk's Chipwrecked, Gym Class Heroes' The Papercut Chronicles II, Frank Sinatra's Best Of The Best, Ozzy Osbourne's God Bless and The Who's Quadrophenia.
via: yahoo
