Happy New Year!

Well I'm back and here we go with another year of shocking surprises and endless letdowns! Let's start with a HUGE letdown...Outkast drops 1-3 and Josh Bocelli..OOPS...Josh GROBAN jumps 11-1 with a 34% increase. With Grammys near I'm sure Outkast will reclain the throne!

In the "There's no such thing as bad press" catagory...Michael Jackson sees a 22% increase of his 'Number One' record jumping 39-15...and expecting to jump further in the next week as the Jackson trial begins.

ARTIST/TITLE/CURRENT WK SCANS/SCANS TO DATE

1-Josh Groban/Closer/111,100/1,962,500
2-Alicia Keys/Diary of/102,100/1,925,300
3-Outkast/Speakerboxxx/101,800/3,342,500
4-No Doubt/Singles/88,900/1,198,100
5-Toby Keith/Shock N Yall/81,600/2,489,600
6-Sheryl Crow/Very Best of/80,250/1,672,400
7-Various/Now 14/72,720/2,200,900
8-Ruben Studdard/Soulful/63,240/1,019,700
9-Evanescence/Fallen/60,720/3,510,900
10-JayZ/Black Album/56,940/1,730,670
11-Beyonce/Dangerously In Love/55,430/2,635,900
12-Linkin Park/Meteora/54,400/3,595,700
13-G-Unit/Beg For Mercy/47,300/1,801,600
14-Sarah McLachlan/Afterglow/47,020/1,572,500
15-Michael Jackson/Number Ones/46,990/498,900
16-Britney Spears/In The Zone/46,800/1,696,600
17-Nickelback/Long Road/43,530/1,325,700
18-Red Hot Chili Peppers/Greatest Hits/41,700/593,490
19-Alan Jackson/Greatest Hits Vol Two/41,030/2,140,900
20-Hilary Duff/Metamorphosis/39,300/2,516,400

peace

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

That bland, sedentary housewife-marketed music is #1? What is this, 1962? Is Mitch Miller promoting Josh or what?

Great voice, needs a more interesting and varied setlist.

Again, glad to see Alicia & OutKast selling so well. Also glad to see Britney will top out at about 2.5 million.

Still don't know who's buying Toby Keith.

VoicesCarry said:

The people that buy Toby Keith are the same ones that Howard Dean wanted votes from.

Those are very low numbers! It is that slow time of the year. There is nothing big coming out for quite a while.

VinnyM27 said:

Yeah January is a slow month...thing start kicking in February..especially around Valentines Day with Norah, Kylie, Incubus, JC Chasaz and Courtney Love among others coming out...

I FUCKING HATE TOBY KEITH

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

VinnyM27 said:

somehow i doubt that's his constituency.




as for Josh Groban... who is he? what does he do? and should i care?

AaronAlmighty said:

i bet hes like Lance Bass =

If Josh Groban can zoom to number 1 on billboards top 200 albums charts...Prince can definitely do the same if he had a major push on his music in promotion...because this guy sux!

LOL

NPD313 said:

Hey, all you need is Oprah to tell her cheescake-eating housewife minions to buy your music and you're set for life.

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

I'm curious to see how Kylie will do. If Fever's breakthrough was just a fluke in the US (and her second "fluke" of that kind) or if it actually established her commercially. She certainly incorporated a lot of American elements into "Body Language" and first single "Slow" is zooming up the dance club play charts (and is the most added track at US radio this week, which I'm surprised at considering its minimalist, European flavour), so we'll see what happens. Even as dance-pop goes, it's a rather unconventional album which might work against her.

As will the fact that the album's been out for 3 months in international territories, and therefore it's all over file-sharing networks.
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 12:33:09 PST 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

VoicesCarry said:

Didn't the album do poorly in Europe? I think the big thing about "Fever", part of it, was the fact that it was a monster hit everywhere and hadn't come here. The same can be said for "Can't..." but who knows. It seems like Kylie did everything right two years ago and managed to have the one big dance hit of the year. Keep in mind, dance music is no where on the mainstream map since everything, everything is hip hop or "adult alternative". I wish her luck but I'm doubting this album will be nearly as big of a hit as her last one was. If Pink's album proved anything, its that the kids ain't buying the pop records like they used to even if you're last album was huge.

Is Kelis approaching Gold status?

Who's buying this shit? There are only 2-3 cd's on this entire list that I would spend $$ on.

JANFAN4L said:

Kelis has scanned 271,280 and is #42 this week. But I think the album has shipped well over 500K by now.

VinnyM27 said:

The album has not sold up to her previous standards internationally, that's true. It was kind of a shock, I guess, for her to release something so at odds with "Fever" and "Light Years" (both excellent neo-disco albums), but that's why I like it, I guess.

Capitol is doing next to no promotion, but "Slow" officially debuted at #49 on US pop radio this week 655 spins, which is pretty good for such an obscure single.

The thing is, I don't think there are too many American kids/teens listening to Kylie's music. Her fanbase is older and more mature than say, Britney's, likely because Kylie makes good pop music vs. Britney's atrocious train-wreck albums.

Still, all things considered, I think she'll be lucky to debut in the top 20, but you never know. I know that awareness among her American fan base is quite high, but then they've also had access to "Body Language" imports for the past few months. If Capitol had any faith in this record, they would have done a day-and-date international release instead of staggering different territories.

I'm also interested in seeing how the American critics react to the album. The allmusic review was very positive (****1/2):

If Light Years was the comeback, and Fever the confirmation, then Body Language can best be described as Kylie's "big step forward." Sure it's still simple dance-pop, but this time she (and a team of producers and writers — including Kurtis Mantronik — it must be said) has put together an album that works as a piece. It's stylish without being smarmy, retro without being ironic, and its energy never gets annoying. In other words: a near perfect pop record. Instead of opting for more of the light dance- and disco-pop of the last two releases, Kylie has sought to expand her horizons. Adding elements of electroclash, '80s synth pop, bouncy club beats — even a dash of Eminem-style raps! — she's found the formula that not only makes her vocal shortcomings irrelevant but gives her the edge on the rest of the divas on their newfound quest: maturity. While Madonna, Xtina, and Britney have attempted to achieve maturity through trashiness and not really all that shocking behavior (i.e., that MTV Awards kiss), Kylie maintained a low profile, retained a sense of class, and put together what may well be the best album of her career. Simply, Body Language is what happens when a dance-pop diva takes the high road and focuses on what's important instead of trying to shock herself into continued relevance.

For reference purposes, Fever was a came-out-of-nowhere success, debuting at #3.
[This message was edited Fri Jan 16 10:19:45 PST 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

Kylie will be in LA the week of release doing several appearences (performances TBA) on TV including the Grammys. The QUEER EYE soundtrack is out the same day which will include the Chem Bros remix of 'Slow' and she will be on their show the week of release as well. Supposedly Capitol is urging Kylie to do some kind of club tour soon as opposed to just a promotional tour.

We'll soon see what happens. But to my shocking surprise, "Slow" looks like it's gotten off to a great start at US radio.

Though it's a different style of music...I believe Outkast's "Hey Ya" opened doors for 'out of left field' songs that radio usually are hesitant to play. "Slow" is a great hypnotic song that deserves such attention.

..and wait til you hear the new N.E.R.D. single...it's INSANE...it's Hip Hop meets Steely Dan meets Santana-ish quitars...I got all that from my first listen! Again it's a song that is different but thanks to 'Hey Ya'...it might get alot of attention!

did all that make sense???

peace

AaronAlmighty said:

If he hasn't changed his style since being on Ally McBeal during its last season, no you shouldn't care. Just goes to show that almost anybody can have a top selling album, providing the marketing is done right. Although, I admit, I'm surprised it took him this long.

Supernova said:

He still sounds the same. Between him and Clay Aiken being number one...I dont know which one bugs me more!

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

Yup, in fact I really liked your point about OutKast making "risky" songs more mainstream and viable on commercial radio again. I truly hope we have a renaissance, something like what Prince helped usher in in the early 80s, where anything and everything was played on the radio (well, at least once, but a lot of these more "out there" tracks WERE hits). That's why the early 80s were so great, and the 90s so boring, IMHO. Christ, were the 90s ever boring.