Alicia Keys enters the Billboard Charts at No.1 this week with the year's second-highest debut, while Boyz II Men's homage to Motown lands at No. 27.

Fresh off her reggae-inspired performance at the "American Music Awards," Keys scored the second-highest debut of the year with 742,000 copies sold of As I Am.

That sales total is second to just one other disc released in 2007, Kanye West's Graduation, which sold over 930,000 copies in its first week.

Philly R&B band Boyz II Men, now reduced to three members with the departure of bass Michael McCary, debuted at No. 27 with 42,000 copies sold of their new disc, Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA. The album includes reworkings of classics by Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5 and The Temptations, among others, along with an a cappella version of the Boyz hit "End of the Road."

Stay tuned for the complete list on SOHH's Hip-Hop and R&B Charts column posting tomorrow (November 22).

I guess people are still buy cd's

That's great. I'm really proud of Alicia. Of course there are so many more artists that are more talented then she is, but she's a nice medium in the industry. Kind of gives you hope that people not only still buy CD's, but they'll support artists that put a little more effort into their work.

Maybe music isn't dead?

Thats great! Even though alot of people hate her, I really like her alot she seems to be constantly improving and I hope she continues and becomes more adventureous. I hope to have the album in my hands by this weekend

dragondayz said:

I really respect that you're a big fan of hers, but you pretty much kept it real about how she still has a lot of work to do. Nice objectivity, compared to some who think their favorite artists can do no wrong and everybody else is trash

thekidsgirl said:

Well thanks! As a fan, I really like the criticism for some reason. Alicia still has a long way to go. I don't know why people get so upset when others criticize their favorite artists. I think it's helpful.

Good news. I don't mind the cd. I got a burned copy last Friday and listened to it twice. Her voice sounds a bit rough, but it's not a bad cd.

that damn No One song SUCKS!!!


i'm not impressed with Alicia...

I'm not surprised, her last album opened up pretty big too. Plus with all the promotion (MTV played her various commercials AT EVERY BREAK), it was only expected.

Empress said:

Yeah, I initially thought the CD was horrible. I didn't even want to support it, but I did anyway because that's what fans do right.

After giving it a few listens I began to appreciate it, and the CD isn't bad at all. Not by any means.

Scorpion said:

exactly, if a cd gets the right kind of hype people will go out the 1st week and get it, alicia keys was everywhere promoting this record, she even had commercials for individual stores.

Scorpion said:

I thought she would do 500k. No One is a big song, but it alienated a lot of her RnB "You Don't Know My Name" loving fans. Even with the promotion MTV is a very fickle crowd. I don't trust them.

dragondayz said:

I immediately noticed that her voice sounded deeper and rougher, but there are some good songs on the cd. The first single released is not one of them, but I liked the majority of the cd.

lowkey said:

That's what big artists do. Just old-fashioned promo.

Empress said:

See the people that are disappointed in it were looking for more songs like No One. That song does stand out the most, but possibly because it's a single?

dragondayz said:

you right, im just glad im not one to fall for the hype, i actually only buy music that i like. i've never gotten the hype about alicia keys, even though she's a very nice woman (i've met her twice), im still not a fan of her music, but congrats to her anyway.

lowkey said:

Yeah, even as a fan, I didn't want to fall into the hype this time. Not to say that I didn't enjoy her last albums, but I just wanted her to push more.

I think lyrically she did that. I'm not 100&% sold on the music behind some of the songs, but I believe that they didn't want to limit the boundaries of her listening audience.