And what about this?



BlueNote

Yes, who's that from? A source? WHO? Sounds like a self righteous journalist invoking their own opinion there. Like I said, he'll only make money from the sales of the commercial albums, since the iTunes single is a charity one, Sony makes more at this point until the merger is finished, and The Beatles' sales weren't increased all that much compared to Pink Floyd, The Who etc.

Forgetting Live 8 now, why doesn't Paul McCartney donate all the money he makes from other people's songs to the artists and their families? Michael does with Little Richard and Sly Stone.
[Edited 7/11/05 12:20pm]

dp
[Edited 7/11/05 12:20pm]

Try this one...

http://www.contactmusic.c...%20profits

Contact Music is THE least reliable website for news ya know. They rehash year old shit sometimes. Their stuff on Madonna is hilarious.

Again, who is "a source" and "experts". It is a FACT that non-profit singles and performances don't count towards publishers. So who's urging Michael Jackson, who had nothing to do with Live 8? If you've got the gall to "urge" him and let others go (e.g. Sony Music, John Branca, all the other artists who performed and profitted apart from the 2 or 3 who have said they'd donate)then at least have the balls to name yourself publically.

But was Live8 charity? I mean, it wasn't about the money. Mike owns these Beatles songs and if they are sold on itunes he gets at least 50 %.

BlueNote

The Live 8 gigs themselves weren't to raise money, but the iTunes single is for charity, just like when the Band Aid 20 piece of shit released on iTunes last year was for charity.

iTunes offers Live 8 tracks for charity

06/07/2005 | 11:54

Following on from the spectacular Live 8 series of concerts which rocked the world last weekend, iTunes are offering people who missed out, as well as people who just want to relive the event, the chance to download the opening and closing tracks of the concert, with all the proceeds going toward debt relief in Africa.

Sir Paul McCartney and Bono joined together for a rendition of the Beatles classic Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to open the show, while Sir Paul later took to his piano to close the show with The Long And Winding Road. Both these tracks will be available on iTunes.

According to TechDigest, iTunes is about to record more than half a billion downloads, so the demand for these tracks will come at a record breaking time for Apple.


© DeHavilland Information Services plc

http://www.junaroo.com/en...01586.html

BlueNote said:

I'm sure he'd give up any royalty checks. That's the way he is.

Then he'll do a Beatles covers album next year. Which is also the way he is.


[Edited 7/11/05 13:03pm]

Wasn't McCartney pissed when Michael was going to license Baby You Can Drive My Car to a VW commercial once? There was the whole Revolution/Nike episode too, but I think those two instances weren't in that bad taste, particularly the former.

Beatles music isn't available on iTunes (yet), yet Michael has publically heralded iTunes - perhaps (and I;m just speculating) respecting that theory of albums having to be heard in their entirety - BAH @ Madonna "What the fuck do you think you're doing" indeed.

MJ should just say a big to those self-righteous twats and license Beatles songs on the cheap for toilet cleaners and see how they see the Nike/VW criticisms then!
[Edited 7/11/05 13:11pm]

Since when was Live8 about donating money. If other performers that raised their own profiles want to donate royalties, fine. Mike didn't perform and he most definately pay 47.5mil twenty years ago for that catalogue, just to throw money away. The point of business is to make profit.

Has anybody asked Sony what they're doing with their 50%? what about the other publishers?

He can't win, if he'd have shown up and performed he'd have no doubt been accused of looking after #1. Now he's getting pressured over this. He's just getting over probably the worst time in his life, and having to hide away in Bahrain to escape the bastards in the press. I bet he doesn't know anything about this.

Give him a fucking break!

He's always been charitable, far more than many.

http://s24.yousendit.com/...DU3S6O0NV7
[Edited 7/11/05 13:32pm]

Oh MY!!

=====

Jackson Sued Over Beatles Library Finances

07/11/2005 6:53 PM, AP


A financial company specializing in asset acquisition sued Michael Jackson on Monday, saying it is owed $48 million in fees for rescuing the singer's stake in the publishing rights to songs by the Beatles.

Prescient Acquisition Group Inc. said in its lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the pop music celebrity enlisted it in November 2004 to provide financial advice and to secure refinancing of a $272 million debt to Bank of America.

On behalf of Jackson and his company MJ Publishing Trust, Prescient secured $537 million in financing from Fortress Investment Group LLC, enough for Jackson to pay off the debt and exercise an option to buy the remaining 50 percent of the Beatles library he didn't already own, the lawsuit said.

Prescient said it was entitled to an immediate payment of $24.8 million, which is 9 percent of the financing used to pay off the Bank of America debt and a $3.3 million advance to Jackson and his company.

Prescient accused Jackson of breach of contract, saying that it had done what was expected in a written agreement and that Jackson and his company were not entitled to "retain the benefits of those services in equity and good conscience without paying to Prescient an amount to be determined at trial."

A lawyer for Jackson did not immediately return a telephone message for comment Monday.

=====

Naughty boy! Pay 'em! It looks like he may have already bought-out Sony, so scrap that about them. Michael could own 100% of ATV again.

Ellie said:

Why are Little Richard & Sly Stone singled out to share in the income & not all the musicians MJ holds the rights to? Thats what you are suggesting McCartney do. McCartney should share with ALL the artists in his song catalog but MJ just has to share with his chosen special PC friends?
Take your blinders off - MJ ain't no saint.

Considering MJ isn't legally obligated to give Sly Stone and Little Richard anything, then yeah, it doesn't make him a saint but it sure as heck makes him a very nice guy who went out of his way to right a wrong since their record contracts were basically shit to begin with.

amit1234 said:

Well why doesn't MJ share with ALL the artists?
Why only Little Richard & Sly Stone?
He is generous to two well known musicians -
how generous is he to the little guy?
He looks good when he gives $ to Little Richard.
Doesn't do him any good to share with the little guy because there is no positive publicity in it for him.
He gives $ to lIttle Richard & all MJ's fans swoon with his generousity.
Don't suggest McCartney is greedy & should share with everyone &
then say MJ is generous because he shares with 2 people.

Frankly I feel MJ & McCartney paid for those song catalogs
& what they do with the income is their business.

USA

SoundScan Information and commentary courtesy of JRKing. Thank you.

Sales For The Week Ending July 17th, 2005/Billboard Issue Date: July 30rd, 2005.

The Top 12 registered sales of 14,036 units.

*Note: This tally does not include sales for The Ultimate Collection, certain music DVD titles and Motown catalog titles.

Rank, Title, Sales This Week, Sales Last Week, +/- percentage

MICHAEL JACKSON - 14,036 units

1. Number Ones: 5,029 (5,290) (-5%) (#198 on Billboard 200, 31 weeks on the chart, 940,138 units sold.)

2. Number Ones (Video): 3,023 (3,046) (-1%) (Move up 17-15 on the Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos Chart, 69 weeks on the chart.)

3. Thriller (Special Edition): 2,364 (2,575) (-8%) (Top 20 on Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Chart.)

4. Greatest Hits: HIStory Vol. 1: 1,225 (1,300) (-6%)

5. Off the Wall (Special Edition): 809 (791) (+2%)

6. Greatest Hits: HIStory (Video): 425 (473) (-10%)

7. HIStory on Film- Vol. 2 (Video): 352 (364) (-3%)

8. Bad (Special Edition): 291 (343) (-15%)

9. Dangerous (Special Edition): 241 (315) (-23.5%)

10. Invincible: 128 (126) (+2%)

11. HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I (2-CD): 124 (141) (-12%)

12. Blood on the Dance Floor: 27 (33) (-18%)


CANADA

Thriller - The National Top 50 R&B Albums
Week #24 (21/07/05): #49


IRELAND

The Essential - Top 75 Albums
Week #01 (24/07/05): #4


AUSTRALIA

Number Ones - ARIA Top 40 Urban Albums
Week #86 (17/07/05): #36
Week #87 (24/07/05): #35

UK

The Essential - UK Top 200 Album Chart
Week #01 (24/07/05): #2 (Sales: 45,527)

The Essential - UK Top 40 R&B Albums Chart
Week #01 (24/07/05): #1 (Sales: 45,527)

Number Ones - UK Top 200 Album Chart
Week #72 (17/07/05): #103



Music Week - 24/07/05

Remaining atop the singles and albums charts, James Blunt continues his remarkable run by increasing his singles sales for the seventh week in a row, and his album sales for the 13th time in 14 weeks, writes Alan Jones

Blunt is so dominant at present that he would have easily topped both charts this week with only half the sales he actually achieved.

You're Beautiful enjoyed a 19.2% improvement to 46,443 sales to take the singles title for the second week in a row, with a 120.2% lead over Mariah Carey's We Belong Together, which rebounds to number two even though its sales are off 22.9% week-on-week at 21,086. You're Beautiful is the first number one single to increase its sales on its second week at number one since Blu Cantrell's Breathe, which sold 47,312 copies on its first week at number one in August 2003, and 49,192 copies - a 4% hike - the following week.

It's more than five years since any Warner Music single spent more than one week at number one - but Blunt's second week at the summit ends a drought that has endured since All Saints' February/March 2000 chart-topper Pure Shores.

You're Beautiful is now up to fifth on the year-to-date singles rankings, trailing Tony Christie's (Is This The Way To) Amarillo (1,075,260 sales), Crazy Frog's Axel F (492,487), McFly's All About You/You've Got A Friend (328,607) and Akon's Lonely (318,158).

Meanwhile, Blunt's Back To Bedlam album enjoys a modest 1.1% increase in sales to 110,932, putting it 143.7% ahead of nearest challenger, The Essential Michael Jackson.

Blunt's album has sold more than 100,000 copies in three of the last four weeks, and has sold 759,793 copies this year, and 764,542 in total. At the current rate of progress it will pass the million mark in mid-August. It is still somewhat adrift of Coldplay's X&Y - the year's best-seller with 1,086,768 sales to date - but sold 66,332 copies more than its rival last week.

Apparently suffering little fallout from his recent court case, the aforementioned Michael Jackson compilation, The Essential sold 45,527 copies to debut at number two - this despite the fact that Jackson's had a string of previous high selling compilations in the last decade, of which the most recent - Number Ones - has sold 1,323,236 copies in less than two years. The Essential is a career-encompassing 38 song 2CD set winding its way through from the Jackson 5's first hit I Want You Back to MJ's 2002 number two single You Rock My World.

First American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has sold 4,911,618 copies of her first two albums in America but little more than a hundredth of that total here. Clarkson's 2003 debut album Thankful sold 2,248,019 copies in America, and reached number one - but peaked here at number 52, selling 43,387 copies. Follow-up Breakaway - a number three hit in the states with sales of 2,663,599 in 33 weeks, is showing greater promise here, and debuts at number 10 this week on sales of 17,631, following introductory single Since U Been Gone's number six success.

Like the Michael Jackson album, Kelly Clarkson's is a Sony BMG release, giving the company fully half of the Top 12 albums on the chart, and the only two new entries to the Top 20 this week.

Stephen Fretwell's new single Emily has attracted a lot of radio support - it's number 12 on the airplay chart this week - but makes a modest debut at number 42 on the singles chart. Instead, it seems to be sparking album sales.

Fretwell's Magpie album was released last November, falling short of the Top 200 and attracting modest sales of 8,976, before it finally entered the chart at number 112 last week. It now catapults to number 34, with sales up 373.5% week-on-week at 8,564. Run, the previous single from Fretwell's album, peaked at number 79 in February.

With Feel Good Inc continuing a slow and stately decline of the singles chart, Gorillaz-mania is flaring again with favourable reaction to upcoming follow-up Dare, which debuts at number three on the TV airplay chart. As a result, the Gorillaz' Demon Days album ends seven weeks of decline to rebound this week. The album - which has previously moved 1-2-6-9-11-19-26-29 - jumps to number 15, with sales of 14,737 representing a 45.5% increase week-on-week. Demon Days' nine week sales tally of 326,506 place it well ahead of their self-titled 2001 debut, which had sold 185,715 copies at the same stage.

Returning to the singles chart, there are three debuts in this week's Top 10, with Lee Ryan debuting ahead of old timer Paul Weller and newcomer Daddy Yankee.

Eight months after the 12 hit chart career of Blue drew to a close with the highly appropriate Curtain Falls, former band member Lee Ryan makes his solo chart debut at number three with Army Of Lovers. The 22 year old, whose self-titled debut solo album is due next Monday (1 August), sold 20,879 copies of Army Of Lovers last week. Blue sold 1,853,796 singles - an average of 154,483 per release - reaching a high of 292,690 duetting with Elton John on Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, and a low of 43,773 for penultimate single Bubblin'.

The first reggaeton hit - a fusion of hip-hop, salsa and dancehall sung in Spanish - Daddy Yankee's Gasolina was a number 32 hit on the US Hot 100 earlier year, and makes its UK chart debut this week at number five, with 14,287 sales. Daddy Yankee - real name Raymond Ayala - is a 26 year old Puerto Rican, and has released six albums so far, with Gasolina being taken from the latest, Barrio Fino.

Paul Weller gets back to basics on From The Floorboards Up, the introductory single from his upcoming album As Is Now, and is rewarded by a number six debut for the single on first week sales of 13,013. It's the second highest charting single of Weller's 14 year solo career, being beaten only by the number five peak of 1996's Peacock Suit.

Weller's last single, a cover of folkie Gordon Lightfoot's Early Morning Dew, peaked at number 40 - but was available only on 7-inch coloured vinyl. Weller has scored 61 Top 75 hits - 57 of them reaching the Top 40 - since his 1977 debut with Jam.

1,001 sales short of matching the sales of the number 10 single - Crazy Frog's Axel - and powered by generous sampling of the Maisonettes' 1982 number seven hit Heartache Avenue, East London's 13 strong grime crew Roll Deep register their first hit single with The Avenue, which debuts at number 11 on sales of 10,531. The Avenue's popularity helps to revive Roll Deep's first album In At The Deep End, which debuted at number 50 six weeks ago, and has climbed 134-92-73 in the last fortnight, with sales last week of 3,332 - a 64.9% increase over the previous week - taking its cumulative sales past the 20,000 mark. The band is signed to Relentless Records, home to two other highly rated artists currently in the top half of the album chart, KT Tunstall and Joss Stone.

When London was announced as the venue for the 2012 Olympics, a celebration was held at Trafalgar Square, with former M People star Heather Small stepping up to the mic to sing Proud, which had been the campaign song. Said single, now reissued, debuts this week at number 33 with sales of 2,699. Small had 10 Top 10 hits as a member of M People, but Proud's original number 16 peak in 2000 - when it sold more than 45,000 copies - remains her highest solo chart placing. Proud is also featured on The Ultimate Collection, by M People featuring Heather Small. Released in February, when it reached number 17, the album saw its sales increase by 756.5% week-on-week to 5,045 last week, and re-enters the album chart at number 55.

Despite the second wave of attempted bombings in London last Thursday causing sales to fall at the end of the week, the singles market improved by 3.1% in the week as a whole to 780,444, with physical sales increasing 1.8% to 344,098 and downloads up 4.1% at 436,346. Album sales fared better still, with the market improving 6.3% overall to 2,513,999. Artist albums added 6.6%, at 2,002,448 and compilations improved 5% to 511,551.

Compared to the same week last year, however, album sales were down 2%, while physical singles sales were down 28.2% - but once downloads are added in, combined singles sales were up 62.9%. But the majority of download sales are for tracks outside the chart, and the 860 sales which earned Mew's Apocalypso anchor position on the Top 75 this week would have given it only a modestly better 67th place a year ago.

Blunt Holds Off Mariah, Michael On U.K. Chart

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. July 25, 2005, 11:15 AM ET

By Paul Sexton, London

Singer/songwriter James Blunt holds sway on both main U.K. charts for a second week, increasing his sales again with the single "You're Beautiful" and holding steady with his debut album "Back to Bedlam," both on Atlantic. The biggest challenger to the album's sales crown was a new compilation by Michael Jackson, whose commercial appeal in Britain would appear to have outpaced his recent trials and tribulations.

"You're Beautiful" sold more than twice as many copies as its nearest singles rival, Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" (Def Jam), which rebounded 3-2 in its third week. Lee Ryan, formerly of the recently disbanded pop act Blue, debuted at No. 3 with his first solo single "Army of Lovers" (Brightside), and Daddy Yankee scored what is widely recognized to be the first reggaeton hit in the U.K. with "Gasolina" (Machete) at No. 5.

"From the Floorboards Up" (V2), the lead track from Paul Weller's upcoming studio album "As Is Now," brought an impressive revival of his singles chart fortunes by debuting at No. 6. Weller has only once peaked higher since he started making records under his own name in 1991, with the No. 5 hit "Peacock Suit" in 1996. It's his fifth top 10 during that era but, including hits with the Jam and the Style Council, his 21st since 1979, when the Jam's "Eton Rifles" became the first.

Speaking of chart veterans, "The Essential Michael Jackson" (Epic) gave the troubled entertainer not only his best news in a long time but yet another successful U.K. compilation. The two-disc set is being marketed as a definitive career retrospective, starting with his Jackson 5 catalog and ending with recent solo material.

It has been only 18 months since Jackson's "Number Ones" collection topped the British chart. Previously, a Polygram-released "Best of Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five -- The Motown Years" reached No. 5 in 1997. Among numerous other Jackson compilations, 1983's "18 Greatest Hits" was also a No. 1 success.

Kelly Clarkson's somewhat patchy U.K. chart career has taken a turn for the better in recent weeks, with the No. 5 success of the single "Breakaway" now followed by a No. 10 debut for the RCA album of the same name.

Coldplay's "X&Y" (Parlophone) is in its sixth week at No. 1 on the European Top 100 Albums chart, while Crazy Frog's "Axel F" (Mach1) tops the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles tally for a fifth week. U.K. sales alone of the novelty hit are now close to 500,000 units.

http://www.billboard.com/...1000991004

Since The Essential made such an impressive showing on yesterday's UK album chart, I thought I'd give a run down of how MJ releases in the UK have fared since November 2003.

UK

UK Top 75 Album Chart: Number Ones #1
UK Top 75 R&B Album Chart: Number Ones #1 (7 weeks)
UK Top 75 Singles Chart: "One More Chance" #5
UK Top 10 Music DVDs and Videos Chart: The One #2
UK Top 75 Album Chart: The Very Best Of The Jacksons #7
UK Top 75 Album Chart: The Ultimate Collection (4 CD/1 DVD) #75
UK Top 75 R&B Album Chart: The Ultimate Collection (4 CD/1 DVD) #10
UK Top 75 Album Chart: The Essential (2 CD) #2
UK Top 75 R&B Album Chart: The Essential (2 CD) #1

amit1234 said:

is he gonna reup with Sony.

amit1234 said:

Ah, don't forget Off The Wall being doscounted and amazingly making it's way to #13 on the album chart! I'm so glad we don't have a silly catalogue chart where 2+ year old albums are expelled to forever.

Oh yes, how could I forget about the wonderful #13 re-entry of Off The Wall back in July 2004. The album sold an amazing 30,000 copies for that week ending July 7th, 2004!

Off The Wall - UK Top 75 Album Chart
(04/07/04): #13 (Sales: 29,877)
(11/07/04): #39

Hey lilgish - Sony UK have certainly shown more respect to MJ as an artist and haven't let the Sony/ATV catalog issue influence their decision to promote his work (the Invincible album being the exception.) Even former Sony Music Europe chairman Paul Burger said that if Jackson delivers a great album, "any record company will want to sign him, including Sony BMG." However, I don't think MJ has any further interest in furthering his relationship with the company even if it's international affiliates still support and promote his work. I think there's too much distrust and with good reason.

Ideally, I'd like to see him make a move over to the Universal Music Group and get started on a long play executive produced with LA Reid. My first choice would have been Clive Davis since he also recognizes MJ's talent, however, since he's part of the SonyBMG empire, it's better to stay away since you never know what kind of influence that higher ups can have on him.

So here's what we know so far...

USA

The Essential (2 CD) - Billboard 200
Week #1 (06/08/05): #128 (Sales: 8,003)

The Essential (2 CD) - Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Week #1 (06/18/05): #64

The Essential (2 CD) - Cumulative USA sales as of July 27th, 2005: 8,204 units.

EUROPE

The Essential (2 CD) - Eurochart Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (06/12/03): #6

IRELAND

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 75 Albums
Week #01 (24/07/05): #4

UK

The Essential (2 CD) - UK Top 200 Album Chart
Week #01 (24/07/05): #2 (Sales: 45,527)

The Essential (2 CD) - UK Top 40 R&B Albums Chart
Week #01 (24/07/05): #1

NETHERLANDS

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #32

ITALY

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 75 Album Chart
Week #01 (28/07/05): #44

SWITZERLAND

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (24/07/05): #29

CANADA

The Essential (2 CD) - National Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #24

The Essential (2 CD) - National Top 100 R&B Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #5

WORLD

The Essential (2 CD) - United World Album Chart
Week #01 (29/07/05): #23

The Essential (2 CD) - United World R&B Album Chart
Week #01 (29/07/05): #6

EUROPE

The Essential (2 CD) - Eurochart Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (06/12/03): #6

The Essential (2 CD) - Eurochart Top 100 R&B Albums
Week #01 (06/12/03): #1

SPAIN

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 50 Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #26

IRELAND

Good news from Ireland as The Essential moves up 4-2. Since it's very rare for an album to actually increase in sales during its second week, this is indeed a nice little coup for MJ - especially considering he seems oblivious to this release.

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 75 Albums
Week #01 (24/07/05): #4
Week #02 (31/07/05): #2

USA

SoundScan Information and commentary courtesy of JRKing. Thank you.

Sales For The Week Ending July 24th, 2005/Billboard Issue Date: August 6th, 2005.

The Top 13 registered sales of 20,290 units up from 14,036 units sold of the Top 12 the week before. *Note: This tally does not include sales for The Ultimate Collection (4 CD/1 DVD), single sales, certain music DVD titles (eg. The One, Dangerous: The Short Films, etc.), material recorded with The Jacksons, and Motown era solo and Jackson 5 albums. Weekly sales information for those titles is not available at this time.

Rank, Title, Sales This Week, Sales Last Week, +/- percentage

MICHAEL JACKSON - 20,290 units

1. The Essential (2 CD): 8,003 (#128 on Billboard 200, #64 on Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Album Chart, 8,204 units sold.)

2. Number Ones: 4,189 (5,029) (-17%) (944,327 units sold.)

3. Number Ones (Video): 3,125 (3,023) (+3%) (Move down 15-17 on the Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos Chart, 70 weeks on the chart.)

4. Thriller (Special Edition): 2,008 (2,364) (-15%)

5. Greatest Hits: HIStory Vol. 1: 894 (1,225) (-27%)

6. Off the Wall (Special Edition): 613 (809) (-24%)

7. Greatest Hits: HIStory (Video): 409 (425) (-4%)

8. HIStory on Film- Vol. 2 (Video): 333 (352) (-5%)

9. Bad (Special Edition): 258 (291) (-11%)

10. Dangerous (Special Edition): 207 (241) (-14%)

11. Invincible: 110 (128) (-14%)

12. HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I (2-CD): 97 124 (-22%)

13. Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix: 44 (27) (+63%)

FLANDERS

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 50 Albums
Week #01 (30/07/05): #22

WALLONY

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 50 Albums
Week #01 (30/07/05): #25

Good news from Australia as The Essential debuts at #23 on the Top 100 Albums Chart in Australia, and is this week's highest new entry. A fantastic result considering once again, there has been absolutely no promotion whatsoever in Australia.

Note: The Essential is not eligible to chart on the Top 40 Urban Albums Chart.

AUSTRALIA

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 50 Albums
Week #01 (31/07/05): #23

Still steady in the UK as The Essential remains the #1 R&B album of the week while it drops 2-6 on the main album chart. Meanwhile, last week's UK figures for Number Ones show the album climbed 103-92. Meanwhile, Live In Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour makes an impressive debut at #2 on the Top Music DVDs and Video chart.

UK

The Essential (2 CD) - UK Top 75 Album Chart
Week #02 (31/07/05): #6

The Essential (2 CD) - UK R&B Album Chart
Week #02 (31/07/05): #1

Number Ones - UK Top 200 Album Chart
Week #73 (24/07/05): #92

Live In Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour - UK Top 10 Music DVDs and Videos
Week #01 (31/07/05): #2
[Edited 7/31/05 11:48am]

More good news as The Essential reaches a new peak in both the Netherlands and Switzerland. Also, check out the debut in Greece.

NETHERLANDS

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (25/07/05): #32
Week #02 (01/08/05): #24

SWITZERLAND

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (24/07/05): #29
Week #02 (31/07/05): #23

GREECE

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 50 Album Chart
Week #01 (31/07/05): #11

Well, ain't this funny. Not only did sales of The Essential increase during its second week in countries such as Switzerland, Ireland, and the Netherlands, but they also increased in the USA.

That's right. With sales of 11,231 units last week, the album moves up 128-96*, a healthy 32 positions on this week's Billboard 200.

Also, for those that don't know, The Essential debuted at #11 in Greece and #1 on France's Compilation Album Chart.

Still waiting on Japan, Germany, New Zealand, Austria and whichever other countries you guys have information for.

USA

The Essential (2 CD) - Billboard 200
Week #1 (06/08/05): #128 (Sales: 8,003)
Week #2 (13/08/05): #96 (Sales: 11,231)

More information as it comes...

Sales also increased during the second week in Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Italy. That's five countries including the USA.

NEW ZEALAND

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 50 Album Chart
Week #1 (03/08/05): #23

ITALY

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Album Chart
Week #2 (03/08/05): #28

FRANCE

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 40 Compilation Album Chart
Week #1 (30/07/05): #1

This is great. There are now seven countries where The Essential reached a new chart peak during it's second week. We can now add Spain (#25) and Belgium (#8 in Flanders and #4 in Wallony) to the list. Meanwhile, in Canada, the album reaches a new peak of #4 on the R&B Album Chart, therefore, you could say eight countries (but on a technicality.)

BTW, Canadians might be interested in knowing that The Essential has been the #18 album in Toronto for the second week in a row. The album even sold more than Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill Acoustic in Toronto last week.

SPAIN

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #26
Week #02 (04/08/05): #25

Live In Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour (DVD) - Top 20 Music DVDs
Week #01 (04/08/05): #3

ITALY

Live In Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour (DVD) - Top 20 Music DVDs
Week #01 (04/08/05): #1

PORTUGAL

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #27

FLANDERS

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (30/07/05): #22
Week #02 (06/08/05): #8

WALLONY

The Essential (2 CD) - Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (30/07/05): #25
Week #02 (06/08/05): #4

USA

Live In Bucharest - The Dangerous Tour (DVD) - Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos Chart
Week #01 (13/08/05): #7

Number Ones (DVD) - Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos Chart
Week #71 (13/08/05): #17

CANADA

The Essential (2 CD) - National Top 100 Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #24
Week #02 (04/08/05): #26

The Essential (2 CD) - National Top 100 R&B Albums
Week #01 (28/07/05): #5
Week #02 (04/08/05): #4