Jay-Z overtakes Elvis

09:12 | Friday September 18, 2009

The album debuts in style, moving an estimated 476,000 copies, the third highest weekly tally of 2009 and the fourth highest of his career.

The only act to sell more albums than Jay-Z last week is also the only act to have more number one albums – The Beatles. America proved its enduring passion for the Fab Four by buying an astonishing 626,000 albums – most of them the newly-issued remasters - by the group last week, almost 40 years after they disbanded. The Beatles provided five of America’s 10 biggest-selling albums last week, with Abbey Road the nation’s number three choice (89,000 sales), followed by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (number five, 74,000), The Beatles (White Album) (number seven, 60,000), Rubber Soul (number nine, 58,000) and Revolver (number 10, 46,000). Those chart positions apply only to Billboard’s comprehensive chart, as chart regulations dictate that albums over 18 months old are ineligible to return to the chart once they dip out of the top half of the higher-profile, more-prestigious Top 200, no matter how many copies they sell, and regardless of new, remastered editions. That being the case, the only Beatles albums eligible for Top 200 chart duty this week are the new Beatles In Stereo and Beatles In Mono boxed sets, which duly debut at 15 and 40, respectively, on sales of 26,000 and 12,000.

The Jay-Z and Beatles releases gave retail a shot in the arm, with sales increasing week-on-week by 6.34% to 6.7m. That is less than 2% down on the same week in 2008 – a triumph considering sales are down year-on-year by 14.17%. New albums by Raekwon, Brooks & Dunn and Boys Like Girls also sold well enough to debut inside the Top 10.

Rapper Raekwon’s Only Built For Cuban Linx...Pt II debuts at number four on sales of 68,000 copies and is, as its name suggests, a sequel to his original Only Built For Cuban Linx album which also reached number four when it was released more than 13 years ago. Country duo Brooks & Dunn’s compilation #1s And Then Some follows at number five, with 55,000 buyers, becoming their third Top 10 compilation and their ninth Top 10 album in all. Boys Like Girls’ Love Drunk debuts at number eight with nearly 45,000 buyers on the heels of the success of the title track, which has sold 618,000 copies to date.

The Beatles showed the rest of the British contingent a clean pair of heels. Imogen Heap’s Ellipse leads the rest, though it crashes for the second week in a row, diving 29-64. The Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug is off 50-69, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends slips 100-111, George Harrison’s Let It Roll surfs 163-155 and The XX’s self-titled debut falls 125-161. Queen + Paul Rodgers’ Live In Ukraine, new at number 111 last week, has already disappeared, and Seal’s Soul (number 196) also does a vanishing act.

On the Hot 100, Black Eyed Peas extend their reign at number one to a historic 24 weeks in a row – 12 with Boom Boom Pow, followed immediately by another 12 for I Gotta Feeling. The song’s reign could be over as soon as next week, as the UK’s Jay Sean and his US foil Lil Wayne’s Down – number two again – continues to close the gap. Meanwhile, another Anglo/American alliance, that of Jay-Z and Mr Hudson, debut at number 75 with their collaboration, Young Forever.