Houston debuts at number one in US

09:36 | Friday September 11, 2009

Whitney’s fourth number one album – including The Bodyguard soundtrack to which she contributed half of the 12 tracks – I Look To You sold 305,000 copies last week, and is the third number one album in a row by a female solo artist following Colbie Caillat’s Breakthrough, which topped the list last week, and Reba McEntire’s Keep On Loving You, number one a fortnight ago.

It’s the first time three women have had number one albums in as many weeks in the whole 64 years of album chart history, and only the second occasion on which they have had three number one albums in a row (a subtle distinction), the first being last year, when Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey and Madonna took turns on top.

Houston’s return to form isn’t the only good news this week – five other albums debut inside the Top 10, helping sales to climb 8% week-on-week to 6.3m.

Also new to the top tier are: Ready, the first Top 10 album by R&B/hip-hop star Trey Songz, which debuts at number three on sales of 131,000; rap/rockers The Insane Clown Posse’s Bang! Pow! Boom!, a number four arrival on sales of 50,000; Rockers Chevelle’s Sc-Fi Crimes, in at number six with 46,000 sales; Rapper Pitbull’s Rebelution, a number eight debut on sales of 41,000; and The Used’s third Top 10 album in a row, Artwork, which debuts at number 10 with 35,000 sales.

British singer/songwriter Imogen Heap’s Ellipse debuted at number five last week but is now in steep decline, dipping to number 29. Surprisingly, that makes it the least volatile album by a UK act in the top half of the album chart – The Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug slides 16-50, and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends slumps 58-100.

In the bottom half of the chart, however, it’s all good news for UK acts, with the late George Harrison’s Let It Roll enjoying a 194-163 recovery as Beatles fans got in a little buying practice ahead of the group’s catalogue reissues, and Seal’s Soul returning to the list at number 196. There are also debuts for Queen + Paul Rodgers’ Live In Ukraine, new at number 111, and London group The XX’s self-titled debut, which arrives at number 125, having peaked at number 35 domestically last month.

The only UK act on the Hot 100 singles chart, Jay Sean continues to wait patiently at number two with Down, his collaboration with Lil Wayne. The track sold a further 145,000 copies last week to lift its running download tally to 964,000. Inevitably, Black Eyed Peas are number one for the 23rd week in a row, with I Gotta Feeling extending its run at the top to 11 weeks, one fewer than Boom Boom Pow.