Hung's Big Bang on the Charts
By David Jenison

Even Usher must confess, the man with the most sales can still be overshadowed by the force that is William Hung.

Usher, who topped the charts for a third straight week, may have a better voice, higher sales and, depending on your point of view, better dance moves than Hung, but this American Idol reject has become the year's most unlikely breakout star. Capitalizing on mounting affection from his Jan. 27 Idol performance, Hung hit the retail record bins last week with his debut album, Inspiration.

Hung debuted at number 34 on Billboard's Top 200 and number one on indie album charts with a solid 38,000 in sales for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released Wednesday.

With such a strong opening week and seemingly undying knack for publicity, Hung might eventually outsell overhyped former American Idol runner-up Justin Guarini (whose self-titled album debuted June 2003 with sales of just 54,000 and quickly dropped off the charts, prompting RCA to drop him from its roster).

Hung, a civil engineering student at the University of California, Berkeley, benefited from enormous media attention, making the rounds on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Good Morning America and performing at halftime during a recent NBA game. His album, featuring covers of Elton John (news)'s "Rocket Man," the Eagles' "Hotel California," and his signature hit, Ricky Martin (news)'s "She Bangs," is the pregame soundtrack of choice for the Los Angeles Dodgers and his "She Bangs" spectacle on Idol remains one of the most popular attractions on the Internet. In fact, over 100,000 signatures have been collected in an online poll asking Fox to put Hung back into the American Idol competition.

While Hung hogs the headlines, Usher's Confessions continued to hold on to number one. Passing the 2 million mark in just three weeks, Confessions sold an additional 462,000 copies last week to retain its chart perch.

There were no new entries among the Top 10. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 15 moved 277,000 copies at number two, switching places with Janet Jackson (news)'s Damita Jo, at three with 147,000. Thanks to her own media blitz and the strong showing of ABC's The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour, Jessica Simpson (news)'s In This Skin surged eight spots up to number four, selling 113,000 copies. Norah Jones (news)' Feels Like Home followed at five with 107,000.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Evanescence's Fallen at six, Kenny Chesney (news)'s When the Sun Goes Down at seven, Lil' Flip's U Gotta Feel Me at eight, Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits at nine and J-Kwon's Hood Hop dropping into the 10 spot.

Meanwhile, the week's top new entry belonged to Tamia, whose More opened at 17 with 71,000 copies. The Ontario, Canada-born R&B singer is currently on the road with the Ladies First Tour. Modest Mouse, who will be heading out on this summer's Lollapalooza tour, followed closely behind at 19 selling 68,000 copies of Good News for People Who Love Bad News. Other substantial debuts included Barry Manilow (news)'s 2Nights Live! at 27 and L.A. rappers Dilated Peoples' Neighborhood Watch at 55.

The Passion of the Christ, which reclaimed the box-office crown over Easter weekend, also witnessed a sales spike for its soundtracks. The brand new Music Inspired by The Passion of the Christ debuted at 59, while the original soundtrack leapt 28 spots to number 26 and was certified gold as its total sales topped 500,000. Other noteworthy debuts included Dark Lotus' Black Rain at 71, Ben Kweller (news)'s On My Way at 83, the Ella Enchanted soundtrack at 112, and, because there's nothing better than a gang of kids singing OutKast's "Hey Ya!," the Barbie Hot Mix disc at 115.

Finally, as the music world marked the 10-year anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death last week, Nirvana's self-titled best-of disc reentered the charts at number 117.

To recap, the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday were as follows:

1. Confessions, Usher
2. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 15, Various Artists
3. Damita Jo, Janet Jackson
4. In This Skin, Jessica Simpson
5. Feels Like Home, Norah Jones
6. Fallen, Evanescence
7. When the Sun Goes Down, Kenny Chesney
8. U Gotta Feel Me, Lil' Flip
9. Greatest Hits, Guns N' Roses
10. Hood Hop, J-Kwon

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At least Tamia finally gets her due.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 15 8:32:16 2004 by VoicesCarry]

it's a novelty record. people are buying it to laugh, not to appreciate the music.

can this man's 15 minutes of fame please end? like NOW?!!!

Are you kidding me? I admire this record's success, expressly for the fact that it is sending a HUGE message to lame ass corporate music industry that predictable formula acts are becoming tired and boring.

Don't get me wrong - he's no Ricky Martin.

But the fact that he can sell over 30,000 copies of -- essentially -- a recorded Karaoke performance, THAT alone should hopefully tell the slick ass industry bastards to start looking for something other than safe sure bets. This formulaic crap is getting old.

And hell - this dude showed up to an American Idol audition to throw is style in the hat, and WHAM, Simon demonizes him, and homeboy is owning the the charts. It shows that ANYBODY CAN make it, regardless what some stupidass show tries to shove down your throat.

Please, lord, let the American Idol craze end.

like NOW.

The saddest part is he probably thinks people like him for him. When everyone is just making a buck off of the guy and laughing at him as well. I unfortunately had the opportunity to listen to this piece of sh*t album. (and not by choice) The songs weren't bad enough..but they had to add "inspirational interludes" of him talking about achieving your dreams, etc.. You could almost smell the stench of this guy through the speakers.
Eminem, Justin Timberlake, now this.. STOP THE INSANITY!!!

otan said:

It's gone from funny to sad very quick! I'm sure the album will sink like a stone soon and probably won't even outsell Justin Guraini.

People who had any inclination to buy this CD already have it...
I don't see any more sales coming for him...
It's gonna sink like a stone in the ocean.

I'm so glad a Prince record is dropping at the height of all this.

It really disturbs me to see William Hung on TV or even hear him. I could never make myself subject to that kind of fame. No way no how. He's making a mockery of himself.

The world is ending...

CalhounSq said:

...the end is nigh...

OdysseyMiles said:

Wait, what?

CinisterCee said:[quote]

OdysseyMiles said:

What?

I'm betting William Hung will outsell Prince...at least in the first few weeks...it has less to do with the quality of work and more to do with the way the machine works....Prince said something similar in the Entertainment Weekly interview, and it's all too true...

I think this is GREAT!!! Music has been a complete joke for sometime now with all these non-muscians ruling it!

Prince is cleaning all this junk up!

VinnyM27 said:

Gotcha.

CinisterCee said:

I actually read the story twice to try and find that. :blush: