Upheaval on US albums chart

08:42 | Friday November 27, 2009

The reasons for this unprecedented turnover are twofold. Firstly, with the sale week ending just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the release schedules were stuffed to the gills. Secondly, and more importantly, Billboard chart rules were revised so that, for the first time since 1991, catalogue albums were allowed to compete side-by-side with current releases. In practical terms, for the last 18 years any album that was a) more than 78 weeks old and b) outside the upper half of the Top 200 was banished to the catalogue chart, with no chance of a recall. Until now.

We will look at a couple of the winners and losers of that ruling later on, but for the moment we will concentrate on genuine new entries. Five of them crowd into the Top 10, with John Mayer racking up his second number one album, courtesy of Battle Studies, which debuts in pole position on sales of 286,000 copies.

Andrea Bocelli’s My Christmas holds at number two on sales of 185,000 copie, and is the first of no fewer than 44 albums of Christmas/winter songs in the chart.

As in Britain, Norah Jones fails in her attempt to make it four straight number ones. Her album The Fall debuts at number three on sales of 180,000. Floridian Christian rockers Casting Crowns follow at number four with Until The Whole World Hears (167,000 sales). It is their third Top 10 album – and they nearly score a fourth as their Christmas album, Peace On Earth, re-enters the list at number 15. It is the highest re-entry to return under the new chart rule, and instantly tops its original chart peak of number 24.

Also new to the Top 10: 50 Cent’s Before I Self-Destruct arrives at number five on sales of 160,000 copies, new lows for the rapidly-cooling Fiddy; and 15-year-old Canadian newcomer Justin Bieber, whose EP My World – consisting of seven songs that have all made the Hot 100 under their own steam – debuts at number six on sales of 137,000.

Current American Idol Kris Allen’s self-titled debut album enters at number 11. Allen, who won the eighth season of the competition in May, suffers the indignity of having the lowest debut and the lowest first-week sales of any Idol winner. His runner-up, Adam Lambert, debuts at number 72 with Take One, a collection of pre-contest demos. Lambert’s official debut album, For Your Entertainment, was released on Tuesday and is expected to fare much better, with initial sales projections suggesting it will be number two or three – though far adrift of Britain’s Got Talent phenomenon Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream, which will certainly open north of half a million, though how far north depends on how well Sony manage to supply stock over the long holiday weekend.

While Boyle is the latest UK female singing sensation to conquer America, the last - Leona Lewis - debuts at number 13 with second album Echo, on sales of 67,000. That is enough to make Lewis the top-ranked UK act on the list this week but a far cry from the 205,000 sales that earned predecessor Spirit a number one debut in April 2008. There is better news for Lewis on the Hot 100, where Echo’s first single, Happy, jumps 59-31 with a big increase in sales as she promotes the album. It thus eclipses its original chart peak of 50.

Paul McCartney is in hot pursuit of Lewis, debuting at number 15 with his new live album Good Evening New York, on sales of 55,000 copies. It is McCartney’s 31st entry on the Top 200 excluding his Beatles oeuvre and his seventh appearance with a live album. And speaking of The Beatles, they are the only UK act to benefit from the relaxation of the catalogue chart rule, with re-entries at number 118 for Abbey Road, number 152 for The Beatles (White Album) and number 189 for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their Beatles In Stereo set – a new compilation which was not subject to that rule, of course - dives 53-151, as it falls out of stock again.

Other UK acts on the chart are Sting (If On A Winter’s Night, 12-25), Rod Stewart (Soulbook, 23-39), Muse (The Resistance, 71-92) and The Bee Gees (The Ultimate, 142-176).

Under the old chart regulations, gospel singer Fred Hammond’s album The Unstoppable would have dipped 132-158 this week. Instead it dives 132-200. That mass influx of catalogue titles also conspires against several UK acts, ending the chart careers – at least temporarily – of Joss Stone’s Colour Me Free!, David Gray’s Draw The Line, Snow Patrol’s Up To Now, Robbie Williams’ Reality Killed The Video Star and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends. The latter title’s disappearance comes after a 74-week chart career. Ironically, under the old rules it would have been retired from the chart three weeks from now, and would never have been allowed to return. The new rules, though resulting in its absence from the chart this week, mean that it could return at any stage in the future even on the very week when it would have been excluded under the old rules. Crazy.

On the Hot 100, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys continue at number one, Jay Sean is still the top UK export, in cahoots with Americans Lil Wayne on Down (off 7-10), and Sean Paul and Lil Jon on Do You Remember (30-30). Muse’s Uprising slips 53-54.