JACK AND JACKO!

Jack Johnson and Michael Jackson Go 1-2, as Kidz Bop Bows, Sara Bareilles #7

February 26, 2008

Johnson and Jackson.
It’s not a presidential ticket or even a brand of baby powder, it’s the top two finishers on this week’s HITS Album sales chart, Jack Johnson and Michael Jackson.

Johnson’s Brushfire/Universal Republic album Sleep Through the Static spends its third consecutive week at #1, churning up 106k in sales, turning back Jackson’s Thriller 25th Anniversary deluxe package on Sony Legacy, which comes in at #2 with 55k.

Razor & Tie’s Kidz Bop Kids 13 is the highest-charting newcomer at #4, while Capitol Nashville’s Chris Cagle enters at #9.

The rest of the Top 10 includes J’s Alicia Keys (#3), who hasn’t left the Top 5 since the album’s release last year, Universal Republic’s Amy Winehouse (#5), Atlantic’s Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack (#6), Epic’s surging Sara Bareilles, which goes #22-7, +17%, Rhino’s Juno (#8) and Geffen’s Mary J. Blige (#10).

Columbia/Canvasback/Sony Music Soundtrax’s Oscar-winning Once re-enters the chart at #22, with 23k in sales.

Koch’s Jim Jones (#24) and Glassnote’s Second Hand Serenade (#37) are the other new Top 50 entries.

Eleven Seven Music’s Buckcherry (#42), WB’s Linkin Park (#43), XL/Beggars Group’s Vampire Weekend (#44), Capitol’s J. Holiday (#47), Roadrunner’s Nickelback (#48) and Interscope’s Soulja Boy Tell’Em (#49) all re-enter the Album sales chart.

Other notable chart jumps are taken by Razor & Tie’s Alvin & the Chipmunks (#28-16), Pearl Records’ Garth Brooks (#26-18), Universal Republic’s Colbie Caillat (#27-20), EMI’s Now 26 (#38-21), Interscope’s Across the Universe (#33-23), Mercury Nashville’s Sugarland (#37-30), Atlantic’s Lupe Fiasco (#42-31) and Def Jam/IDJ’s The-Dream (#46-33).

Next week, IDJ’s new Janet Jackson album, Discipline, will undoubtedly top the chart, with Universal Motown’s Erykah Badu, Asylum’s Webbie and Shawty Lo, as well as DPR’s Dolly Parton also hitting the streets at press time. Mariah Carey’s eagerly awaited IDJ album E=MC2, with a hit single already in “Touch My Body,” reaches retail April 15. And not a moment too soon, we might add.


CHART DISCIPLINE: Look for Michael Jackson’s little sister Janet to enter next week’s chart at #1, with her new IDJ album Discipline headed for 180k in sales, give or take, based on one-day sales reports from our retail minions. Universal Motown’s neo-soul stalwart Erykah Badu is a lock for #2 (hey, that rhymes) with between 125-135k.

Three-time chart-topper Jack Johnson’s Brushfire/Universal Republic album will fight it out for #3 with 70k alongside Asylum’s Webbie, Canvasback/ Columbia’s resurgent Oscar winner Once and J’s Alicia Keys, with a Target circular slot, all between 60-70k. Rhino’s Juno should see a nice bump from awards activity to 50-55k, while Asylum’s Shawty Lo will see a debut in the area of 30-35k. (2/27p




CHART DATE: 02/25/2008
LAST UPDATE: 02/26/2008 13:03:32
NOW IN: FINAL

LW TW artist / album label power index % change
1 1 JACK JOHNSON BRUSHFIRE/UNIV REPUBLIC 106,414 -37%
SLEEP THROUGH THE STATIC
2 2 MICHAEL JACKSON LEGACY 54,508 -65%
THRILLER - 25TH ANNIVERSARY ED.
4 3 ALICIA KEYS J RECORDS/RMG 50,621 -53%
AS I AM
-- 4 KIDZ BOP KIDS RAZOR & TIE 49,530 --
KIDZ BOP 13
3 5 AMY WINEHOUSE UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC 45,772 -62%
BACK TO BLACK
10 6 STEP UP 2: THE STREETS ATLANTIC/ATL G 42,713 -6%
SOUNDTRACK
22 7 SARA BAREILLES EPIC 38,204 +17%
LITTLE VOICE
6 8 JUNO RHINO 37,584 -29%
SOUNDTRACK
-- 9 CHRIS CAGLE CAPITOL NASHVILLE 36,623 --
MY LIFE'S BEEN A COUNTRY SONG
9 10 MARY J. BLIGE GEFFEN 33,597 -30%
GROWING PAINS
11 11 SHERYL CROW A&M 33,181 -19%
DETOURS
8 12 TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE 32,248 -36%
TAYLOR SWIFT
19 13 KEYSHIA COLE GEFFEN 29,542 -18%
JUST LIKE YOU
13 14 HANNAH MONTANA 2 - MEET MILEY WALT DISNEY RECORDS 28,973 -29%
SOUNDTRACK
16 15 CHRIS BROWN JIVE/ZLG 28,348 -28%
EXCLUSIVE
28 16 ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS RAZOR & TIE 25,453 -15%
SOUNDTRACK
20 17 DAUGHTRY RCA/RMG 24,375 -32%
DAUGHTRY
26 18 GARTH BROOKS PEARL RECORDS 23,901 -21%
ULTIMATE HITS
5 19 2008 GRAMMY NOMINEES HIP-O/UNIVERSAL 23,721 -67%
VARIOUS ARTISTS
27 20 COLBIE CAILLAT UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC 23,245 -23%
COCO
38 21 NOW 26 EMI COMMERCIAL MARKETING 22,652 -17%
VARIOUS ARTISTS
-- 22 ONCE CANVASBACK/COLUMBIA 22,508 --
SOUNDTRACK
33 23 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE INTERSCOPE 22,350 -21%
SOUNDTRACK
-- 24 JIM JONES KOCH 22,058 --
HARLEM'S AMERICAN GANGSTER
7 25 HERBIE HANCOCK VERVE 21,614 -58%
RIVER: THE JONI LETTERS
31 26 RADIOHEAD TBD/ATO/RED 21,524 -25%
IN RAINBOWS
15 27 LENNY KRAVITZ VIRGIN 21,177 -47%
IT IS TIME FOR A LOVE REVOLUTION
30 28 JONAS BROTHERS HOLLYWOOD 21,154 -26%
JONAS BROTHERS
17 29 EAGLES EAGLES RECORDING COMPANY 20,313 -45%
LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN
37 30 SUGARLAND MERCURY NASHVILLE 19,797 -28%
ENJOY THE RIDE
42 31 LUPE FIASCO ATLANTIC/ATL G 19,658 -17%
LUPE FIASCO'S THE COOL
23 32 K.D. LANG NONESUCH 19,647 -39%
WATERSHED
46 33 THE-DREAM DEF JAM/IDJMG 19,113 -8%
LOVEHATE
34 34 FERGIE A&M/INTERSCOPE 18,740 -34%
THE DUTCHESS
18 35 ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS ROUNDER 18,665 -49%
RAISING SAND
32 36 CARRIE UNDERWOOD ARISTA/RMG 18,576 -35%
CARNIVAL RIDE
-- 37 SECONDHAND SERENADE GLASSNOTE 17,968 --
TWIST IN MY STORY
-- 38 CELINE DION COLUMBIA 17,607 --
TAKING CHANCES
29 39 WOW GOSPEL 2008 VERITY 17,577 -39%
VARIOUS ARTISTS
35 40 RIHANNA DEF JAM/IDJMG 17,059 -39%
GOOD GIRL GONE BAD
45 41 ONEREPUBLIC INTERSCOPE 16,939 -23%
DREAMING OUT LOUD
-- 42 BUCKCHERRY ELEVEN SEVEN MUSIC 16,682 --
15
-- 43 LINKIN PARK WARNER BROS. 16,294 --
MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
-- 44 VAMPIRE WEEKEND XL/BEGGARS 16,142 --
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
25 45 KENNY G HEAR MUSIC 15,945 -49%
RHYTHM & ROMANCE
39 46 RASCAL FLATTS LYRIC STREET 15,888 -39%
STILL FEELS GOOD
-- 47 J. HOLIDAY CAPITOL 15,709 --
BACK OF MY LAC
-- 48 NICKELBACK ROADRUNNER 15,497 --
ALL THE RIGHT REASONS
-- 49 SOULJA BOY TELL'EM INTERSCOPE 15,409 --
SOULJABOYTELLEM.COM
49 50 PARAMORE FUELED BY RAMEN 15,320 -22%
RIOT!

Week Ending Feb. 24, 2008: The Case Of The Missing #2 Album

Posted Wed. Feb 27, 4:52 PM ET by Paul Grein in Chart Watch


For the second week in a row, Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static and Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 are the top two albums in the U.S. Or are they?

They are, if you look at the Top Comprehensive Albums chart compiled by Nielsen/SoundScan. Johnson is #1 for the week with sales of 105,000 copies, trailed by Jackson with 63,000 copies. (The gap between the two is wider than it was last week, when just 14,000 copies separated them.)

But Jackson is nowhere to be found on the list of Top Current Albums that is published each week (as The Billboard 200) in Billboard magazine. The top 10 from that chart is reprinted in countless newspapers and websites around the world, including this one. The reason for the omission, as I explained last week, is that Nielsen/SoundScan and Billboard exclude catalog titles-defined as albums that are 18 months old or older-from the main chart. (Continuously running "current" hits are exempted.)

The idea is to make more room on the chart for new albums, which need every break they can get. This week, the rule resulted in 31 older albums being removed from Top Current Albums and shifted over to Top Catalog Albums. Just four of these 31 titles would have ranked in the top 100: Thriller 25, which would have ranked #2; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' Greatest Hits, #63; Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits, #64, and Bob Marley & the Wailers' Legend, #84.

The idea of clearing catalog product out to give new titles a break makes a certain amount of sense. But having a top 10 that forever has to carry an asterisk is a high price to pay. Billboard and Nielsen/SoundScan should consider revising their policy so that the top 10, at least, is presented without any modification. They could even present the top 100 exactly as is. This week, as noted, they're opening up only four spots in the top 100 by having this policy. Most of the catalog titles--including such perennial best-sellers as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon, AC/DC's Back In Black and Metallica's Metallica--rank in the second hundred.

In his Over The Counter column, Billboard's Geoff Mayfield reports that Thriller 25 is only the second album to be denied a top 10 spot on Top Current Albums by the catalog-exclusion rule since the Comprehensive chart bowed in late 2003. Il Divo's The Christmas Collection would have placed #10 on the main chart in December 2006 if it had been allowed to compete. Even so, two albums denied a hard-earned spot in the top 10 is two too many.

I know that Michael Jackson, a proud and highly competitive man, is never content to finish second. But he should bear in mind that his album, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year 24 years ago, sold more copies in each of the last two weeks than this year's freshly-minted Album of the Year champ, Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters. River ranked #5 last week and this week dives to #16.

This will be a memorable week for Johnson, who also makes the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time. Johnson was born in 1975, when Jackson was roughly at the midpoint between his initial Jackson 5 smashes and his solo superstardom with Off The Wall.

On Hot Digital Tracks, "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain holds at #1 for a record 13th consecutive week. It is now just 129,000 copies behind "Crank That Soulja Boy" as the most downloaded track of all time. It will probably take two more weeks to top it. The Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em track just keeps adding to its total. It sold 30,000 downloads this week.

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums.

1. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through The Static, 105,000. This brings the album's cumulative sales to 660,000, which lengthens its lead as the top-selling album so far in 2008. Alicia Keys' As I Am is runner-up with sales of 606,000 in 2008. (Of course, this doesn't count the 2,543,000 copies that Keys sold in 2007.)

2. Alicia Keys, As I Am, 53,000. In addition to spending four weeks at #1, this long-running hit has now ranked #2 behind five different albums-Josh Groban's Noel (which has dropped off the chart), Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains (now #9), Radiohead's In Rainbows (now #29), the Juno soundtrack (now #6) and now Sleep Through The Static.

3. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black, 52,000. Winehouse dips a notch, two weeks after winning five Grammys. Of this week's sales tally, 8,000 copies are digital downloads. The album has sold 291,000 downloads to date, a total topped by only one album in music history--John Mayer's 2006 release Continuum. (Mayer's download tally for that album stands at 326,000 copies.)

4. Kidz Bop Kids, Kidz Bop 13, 49,000. This is the Kidz' seventh consecutive album (excluding ancillary releases) to debut in the top 10. It's the Kidz' fourth album to debut in the top five. Kidz Bop 9 opened (and peaked) at #2, the high mark for the series to date.

5. Various Artists, Step Up 2: The Streets soundtrack, 43,000. This is the week's top soundtrack, replacing Juno, which held that distinction for seven weeks. The movie was #4 at the box-office in its second weekend, bringing its total take to $41.2 million. The album from the initial Step Up movie was the top movie soundtrack for two weeks in August 2006.

6. Various Artists, Juno soundtrack, 38,000. This is the soundtrack's eighth week in the top 10, the longest run by any movie soundtrack since Hairspray last summer. The Oscar-winning movie was #8 at the box-office in its 12th weekend, bringing its total take to $130.4 million.

7. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice, 37,000. Except for new entries, this was the only album in the top 50 to sell more copies this week than last (when sales were sparked by a post-Grammy uptick and Valentine's Day gift-giving). Little Voice, which is making its first appearance in the top 10, is boosted by the smash "Love Song," which moves back up to #2 on Hot Digital Tracks. The track has been in the top five on that chart for 11 straight weeks.

8. Chris Cagle, My Life's Been A Country Song, 37,000. This is the first top 10 album for the budding country star. Cagle peaked at #15 with an eponymous 2003 album and reached #24 with his 2005 follow-up, Anywhere But Here.

9. Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains, 35,000. This marks 10 straight weeks in the top 10 for Blige, whose album has sold 1,261,000 copies to date. Blige's previous album, The Breakthrough, logged 11 consecutive weeks in the top five.

10. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift, 33,000. This week's tally is nothing to write home about, but keep in mind that Swift has been selling steadily for 70 weeks. The album's cumulative total is 2,553,000, which was worth celebrating even back in the day.

Three albums drop out of the top 10. Sheryl Crow's Detours dips from #8 to #11, Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters drops from #5 to #16, and Grammy Nominees 2008 drops from #4 to #17.

Nickelback's All The Right Reasons dips from #44 to #48 in its 125th week on the chart. Billboard's Keith Caulfield reports that the album has spent every one of those weeks in the top 50. It's the first album to spend its first 125 chart weeks in the top 50 since Shania Twain's multi-format monster, Come On Over, which was released in 1997. That's no small achievement. Come On Over is the best-selling album in SoundScan history, with sales to date of 15,453,000 copies. (You read that right.) Nickelback's album has sold 6,641,000 copies.

In addition to albums by Kidz Bop Kids and Chris Cagle, four other albums debut in the top 100. Jim Jones' Harlem's American Gangster opens at #19, Secondhand Serenade's A Twist In My Story arrives at #44, K-Paz De La Sierra's En Vivo Desde El Autitorio Nacional opens at #80 and Mike Doughty's Golden Delicious bows at #87. Jones' mixtape album had a limited release last year, but has been remixed, remastered and augmented with new tracks for this wide release.

Janet Jackson hit #1 with five consecutive studio albums from Control in 1986 through All For You in 2001. But she peaked at #2 with her last two releases, Damita Jo and 20 Y.O. Next week we'll see if she can return to her old chart-topping ways with her new album Discipline. Also due next week: Dolly Parton's Backwoods Barbie, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War and Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree.