The charts often make for strange bedfellows, but that seems especially true this week. Ke$ha'sdebut album, Animal, enters TheBillboard 200 at #1, dethroningSusan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream. The two women are polar opposites. Boyle, 48, is old enough to be Ke$ha's mother. Boyle's conservative image and traditional adult contemporary musical approach are also far removed from Ke$ha's edgy, bratty style. Here's a factoid that underscores the difference in their appeal:Animal sold more digital copies this week (115,000) than I Dreamed A Dream has in its entire seven-week run (89,000).
More than three-quarters (76%) of this week's total sales forAnimal came from the digital realm. Billboard's Keith Caulfield reports that this is the highest digital share for any #1 album in chart history.
This is the first time that a debut album has sold more than 100,000 digital copies in any one week. And Animal is only the third album by a female artist to top 100,000 in digital sales in any one week. It trails Taylor Swift's Fearless, which sold 129,000 digital copies in its first week out, and Britney Spears' Circus, which sold 118,000.
Ke$ha is also making waves on Hot Digital Songs. "TiK ToK" tops the chart for the fourth straight week. The sassy smash sold 252,000 digital copies this week, bringing its 16-week total to 2,695,000. Ke$ha also has the week's #2 song, "Blah Blah Blah" (featuring3OH!3), which sold 206,000 copies this week. Only two other artists in the past two years have had the top two songs on Hot Digital Songs. Beyonce scored in November 2008 with "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" and "If I Were A Boy." The Black Eyed Peas scored for two weeks in June 2009 with "I Gotta Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow."
("Between "Blah Blah Blah" and "Boom Boom Pow," I don't know why people say "they don't write songs like they used to.")
"Blah Blah Blah" must surely be the first collaboration in recording history in which both artists had an oddball punctuation mark embedded in their name. Ke$ha and 3OH!3 are clearly on the same wavelength. ("Blah Blah Blah" has already climbed higher on Hot Digital Songs than 3OH!3's breakthrough smash "Don't Trust Me," which peaked at #3 in May. It has sold 2,670,000 digital copies as of this week.)
Female solo artists hold down the top five spots on The Billboard200 for the second week in a row. Until last week, this had never happened in all of chart history. Now it has happened two weeks running.
This week also marks the first time that debut albums have appeared at #1 on The Billboard 200 back-to-back since July 2001, when Alicia Keys' Songs In A Minorreplaced D-12's Devil's Night in the top spot.
In a related note, this is the second week in a row that debut albums have held down the top two spots on the chart. Last week, it was I Dreamed A Dream and Lady Gaga's The Fame. This week, it'sAnimal and I Dreamed A Dream. Until these past two weeks, debut albums hadn't held down the top two spots simultaneously since January 2003, when Norah Jones' Come Away With Meand Avril Lavigne's Let Go did the trick.
Incidentally, Lady Gaga has two entries in the top 10 for the third time in the past seven weeks. The Fame slips from #2 to #3, whileThe Fame Monster EP dips from #9 to #10.
The Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. logs its 18th week in the top 10. You may remember that, last June, the album's run at #1 was broken up by Jonas Brothers'Lines, Vines And TryingTimes. The E.N.D. would have had three straight weeks at #1, but JoBros' album sold 99,000 more copies in the middle week. And where is Lines, Vines And Trying Times these days? Last week, it slipped off The Billboard 200 after a 27-week run. The album has sold 622,000 copies, about one-third of the 1,823,000 tally rung up by The E.N.D.
Shameless Plug: Taylor Swift'sFearless logs its 52nd week in the top 10 on The Billboard 200. It's one of only 18 albums to spend a full year in the top 10 since 1963, when Billboardcombined its separate mono and stereo surveys into one comprehensive chart. On Friday, I'll have a Chart Watch Extra in which I count them down. The list couldn't be more eclectic, running the gamut from Doctor Zhivago toAppetite For Destruction. Check it out on Friday.
Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums.
1. Ke$ha, Animal, 152,000. The new entry is the first #1 album of 2010. I guess you could say it's #1 for the year-to-date! Six songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "TiK ToK," which holds at #1 for the fourth week.
2. Susan Boyle, I Dreamed A Dream, 93,000. The album slips to #2 after six straight weeks at #1. No songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs.
3. Lady Gaga, The Fame, 66,000. The album slips from #2 to #3 in its 63rd week. This is its 29th week in the top 10. Six songs from the expanded version of the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Bad Romance," which dips from #2 to #3.
4. Alicia Keys, The Element Of Freedom, 62,000. The album dips from #3 to #4. This is its fourth week in the top five. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart," which jumps from #82 to #55.
5. Mary J. Blige, Stronger Witheach Tear, 47,000. The album slips from #4 to #5. This is its third week in the top five. "I Am" jumps from #182 to #122 on Hot Digital Songs.
6. Soundtrack, Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, 44,000. The soundtrack inches up from #7 to #6 in its sixth week. This is its second week in the top 10. It's the #1 movie soundtrack for the second week. The Chipettes' version of Beyonce's"Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" drops from #100 to #143 on Hot Digital Songs.
7. Taylor Swift, Fearless, 38,000. The album slips from #5 to #7 in its 61st week. This is its 52nd week in the top 10. It's #1 on the country chart for the 33rd week. Three songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "You Belong With Me," which drops from #24 to #37.
8. The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D., 36,000. The album holds at #8 in its 31st week. This is its 18th week in the top 10. Four songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "I Gotta Feeling," which dips from #7 to #8.
9. Justin Bieber, My World, 34,000. The seven-song EP drops from #6 to #9 in its eighth week. This is its sixth week in the top 10. Four songs from the EP are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "One Time," which drops from #17 to #28.
10. Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster, 31,000. The eight-song EP dips from #9 to #10 in its seventh week. This is its third week in the top 10. Two songs from the EP are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Bad Romance," which dips from #2 to #3.
One album drops out of the top 10 this week. Owl City's Ocean Eyes drops from #10 to #14.
