Album Chart: Shania beats Mariah, hangs on to No. 1
For the third straight week, Shania Twain’s “Up!” was the top-selling album in the country, a feat that keeps it ahead of the Top 10 debut of Mariah Carey’s “Charmbracelet.”
For the third straight week, Shania Twain’s “Up!” was the top-selling album in the country, a feat that keeps it ahead of the Top 10 debut of Mariah Carey’s “Charmbracelet.”
During its third week in stores, “Up!” moved about 317,000 copies, according to industry sources, which brings the album’s total to about 1.8 million copies. Though the album’s sales were nearly half of the previous week’s total, “Up!” will continue its undefeated reign at No. 1 on the forthcoming Billboard 200 album chart.
Also staying put despite a sizeable sales drop-off is Tim McGraw’s “Tim McGraw & the Dancehall Doctors,” which sold about 250,000 copies, down from about 601,000 copies the previous week. The album hangs on to the No. 2 spot, where it debuted last week.
Despite being bested by the chart-topping pair of country artists, singer Mariah Carey posts a strong first-week showing with “Charmbracelet,” which features the single “Through the Rain.” The album, which sold about 241,000 copies, enters the chart at No. 3.
The “Now That’s What I Call Music! 11” hits-compilation stays put at No. 4 for the second consecutive week, while Eminem’s “8 Mile” soundtrack slips two places to No. 5. Now in its fifth week on the chart, the latter album fared much better than its recently released counterpart, “More Music from ‘8 Mile’,” which debuts at No. 152.
Avril Lavigne’s “Let Go” continues to show some serious staying power by climbing three spots to No. 6, while Jennifer Lopez’s “This Is Me ... Then” slips a notch to No. 7. Also losing ground is Tupac Shakur’s latest posthumous release, “Better Dayz,” which drops three places to No. 8.
The Dixie Chicks’ “Home,” which topped the chart for several weeks following its release in late August, jumps back into the Top 10 at No. 9 this week, up from No. 17. Faith Hill’s “Cry” follows at No. 10, down from No. 7.
Just outside the Top 10, several albums are riding the holiday-shopping wave: Elvis Presley’s “Elvis: 30 #1 Hits” spends its second week at No. 11, while Josh Groban’s self-titled debut and Justin Timberlake’s “Justified” rise from Nos. 27 and 19 to Nos. 12 and 13, respectively. Nearby, Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me” leaps from No. 26 to No. 17.
Others that didn’t fare quite as well include Paul McCartney’s “Back in the U.S.A.,” which drops to No. 16 after debuting at No. 8 last week; Ja Rule’s “Last Temptation,” down 11 places to No. 24; System of a Down’s “Steal This Album,” down to No. 25 after debuting at No. 15 last week; and Snoop Dogg’s “Paid tha Cost to Be tha Bo$$,” which drops to No. 28 after debuting at No. 12 last week.
The record industry’s end-of-year slowdown results in relatively few debuts this week; the handful of albums that do surface includes Josh Groban’s live EP, “In Concert,” at No. 35; and the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s ”Boogie Woogie Christmas” at No. 158.
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