Chart Chat

This week's top 20 albums:


1. MICHAEL JACKSON "MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT" 373,100 units sold

2. CREED "FULL CIRCLE" 109,749 units sold

3. TAYLOR SWIFT "FEARLESS" 109,459 units sold

4. ROD STEWART "SOULBOOK" 83,511 units sold

5. TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA "NIGHT CASTLE (2CD)" 83,374 units sold

6. STING "IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT" 79,603 units sold

7. MICHAEL BUBLE "CRAZY LOVE" 71,394 units sold

8. NEW MOON (TWILIGHT) "SOUNDTRACK" 78,760 units sold

9. TIM MCGRAW "SOUTHERN VOICE" 59,184 units sold

10. JAY-Z "BLUEPRINT 3" 40,749 units sold

11. JACK JOHNSON "EN CONCERT" 38,585 units sold

12. MILEY CYRUS "TIME OF OUR LIVES EP" 32,616 units sold

13. BLACK EYED PEAS "E.N.D. (ENERGY NEVER DIES)" 30,166 units sold

14. TECH N9NE "K.O.D." 29,947 units sold

15. SWELL SEASON "STRICT JOY" 28,184 units sold

16. WOLFMOTHER "COSMIC EGG" 27,910 units sold

17. TRAIN "SAVE ME SAN FRANCISCO" 27,414 units sold

18. ATREYU "CONGREGATION OF THE DAMNED" 25,528 units sold

19. OWL CITY "OCEAN EYES" 25,498 units sold

20. BRIAN MCKNIGHT "EVOLUTION OF A MAN" 24,294 units sold


* What a great tribute to Michael. As you know (if you regularly read this column), MJ was ROCKING the sales charts this past summer right after his untimely passing. However, even though he was selling more than the top albums on the Current Albums chart; he could only be listed on the Catalog Albums list because of the "shelf age" of his releases. Interestingly enough, this new charttopper only includes one new song (in addition to remastered hits and demo versions of popular tracks). But since it's new, it's allowed to top the "Current Album" chart as would any new "Greatest Hits" kind of release. So I'm glad Michael got to have his first # posthumous release. He deserves it.

* Creed? Really? And they still have that many fans? Seriously? Ugh.

* Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Again, if you regularly read this column, you are fully aware of our "Swiftgate Seen Through Sales" posts (one is actually still on the homepage below). I was touting Taylor's ability to continually sell in the 5-digit range a year after her album's release. NOW she has even outdid herself and hit the top 3 again selling over 100K copies of her album this week alone. That's NUTS. Most artists would be THRILLED with those kind of sales in their FIRST WEEK on the charts. But on their 51ST WEEK?!?!?!? That's just astounding. Good for her (and screw Kanye - lol).

* THREE QUESTIONS - (1) Rod Stewart and Sting in the Top 10? Is this the 80s? ;) (2) I'm happy that Tech N9ne was able to debut in the top 20. That's big. AND (3) You can't see this on the chart above because it only goes to #20, but Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are right next to each other @ places #30 and #31 respectively. Whitney's newest release has been out for one month longer that Mimi's BUT it has sold almost 3 times the amount hers has. Even if you give Mariah another month, she wouldn't sell the additional 500K she needs to meet up with her competition. Interesting considering Mariah still thinks she has the valuable "young folk" demographic on lock while Whitney is definitely appealing to an older audience.

* Total sales have risen by about 700K units this week (are you taking my advice?). Keep it up lovelies. Music is a beautiful thing (and a great gift for the upcoming holiday season). :)