Country star Taylor Swift claimed a 10th non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the U.S. pop album chart on Wednesday, while the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire" rocketed up the rankings.
Swift's "Fearless" moved 62,000 copies during the week ended February 22, the fourth-lowest tally for a chart-topper in the 18 years since Nielsen SoundScan started supplying sales data for the Billboard 200. "Fearless," the third-best-selling release of 2008, has sold 2.7 million copies in total.
Its 10-week at the top is unmatched by any album since Santana's "Supernatural" racked up 12 weeks at No. 1 in 1999 and 2000. Only eight other albums by solo female artists have earned 10 weeks or more at No. 1. The last to do so was "Jagged Little Pill" by Alanis Morissette, which strung together 12 weeks at No. 1 in 1995 and 1996.
The eight Academy Awards netted on Sunday by "Slumdog Millionaire," including best picture and song, helped the movie's soundtrack vault 26 places to No. 22. It's likely that most of the gain came from digital purchases made during ABC's broadcast of the Oscars or immediately after the show concluded. Look for further gains when the chart for this week is published next Wednesday.
R&B singer Charlie Wilson debuted at No. 2 with "Uncle Charlie," which sold 58,000 copies. His last set, 2005's "Charlie, Last Name Wilson," debuted and peaked at No. 10 with an opening week of 71,000.
Also new was Morrissey's "Years of Refusal" at No. 11, with 31,000 copies. In a sign of the grim times in the music business, his previous release, 2006's "Ringleader of the Tormentors," started with 34,000 copies, which was good enough for only No. 27. In 2004, "You Are the Quarry" debuted at No. 11 with 56,000 copies.
Denver rock act the Fray's recent self-titled chart-topper slipped one place to No. 3 with 53,000.
Nickelback's "Dark Horse" rebounded seven places to No. 4 with 43,000. Beyonce's "I Am... Sasha Fierce" was also up seven, to No. 5, with 41,000. Jamie Foxx's "Intuition" jumped eight to No. 6 with 33,000, and India.Arie's "Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics" slid four places to No. 7 with 32,000.
Kanye West's "808s & Heartbreak" jumped six places to No. 8 with 32,000 copies. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Grammy-winning collaboration "Raising Sand" fell seven to No. 9, also with 32,000. Lady GaGa's "The Fame" rose two places to a new peak of No. 10, also with 32,000.
Other debuts included singer/songwriter M. Ward's "Hold Time" at No. 31, and Annie Lennox's CD/DVD set "Annie Lennox Collection" at No. 34.
At 7.41 million units, sales were down 13.3% from the previous week and down by 7% compared to the same week in 2008. Year-to-date sales are off 12% at 57 million.
(China Daily/Agencies February 26, 2009)
