Sonic Slang

New blood dominated the charts again this week on Billboard, with 11 new releases finishing in the top 20.  At the top, predictably, was the latest from Rascal Flatts, Still Feels Good, moving an impressive 547,000 units.  Further down we saw big debuts from Foo Fighters, Jill Scott, and a bunch of others we’d prefer not mentioning. 

Despite all the debuts, sales were still down 8.5% from the same week last year (though up 9.2% from last week), but with new tunes from Springsteen already in stores and charting well, plus Jay-Z not far behind, maybe the old schoolers (the pre iPod crowd) can still shake some life into the charts.   

One final happy note - Sam Beam’s latest Iron and Wine disc, the lovely The Shepherd’s Dog, made a very nice debut at #24, selling 32,000 copies.  In celebration, we’ll be growing out our own Santa Claus beards at the SS offices, which should catch up with Beam just in time for his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

This week’s top 10:

1. Rascall Flatts – Still Feels Good (547,000)
2. Keyshia Cole – Just Like You (281,000)
3. Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (168,000)
4. Jill Scott - The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 (148,000)
5. Kanye West – Graduation (133,000)
6. Reba McEntire – Reba Duets (130,000)
7. High School Musical 2 (85,000)
8. Jagged Edge – Baby Makin’ Project (78,000)
9. 50 Cent – Curtis (71,000)
10. Kenny Chesney - Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates (68,000)

Not surprisingly, the post-hype fallout from Kanye v. Fifty was severe this week on Billboard, with sales for each hip hop heavyweight dropping like a shell casing from your semi-automatic. Kanye West's Graduation dropped to No. 2 with 226,000, a sales slide of 76% while 50 Cent's Curtis has a nearly identical free-fall, slipping 2-3 with 143,000 (-79%).  So with these two out of the way, who did the kids turn their attention to?  Reba McEntire of course.

The oh-so-creatively named duet disc, Reba Duets, sold 301,000 copies to give the country star her first ever number one, a feat no doubt buoyed by guest turns from such mainstream stars as Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Justin Timberlake and Kelly Clarkson.

Elsewhere in the top ten we saw another big debut from the puzzlingly resurgent Barry Manilow (no. 4, 113,000), while James Blunt followed up his 2005 U.S. debut smash with the number seven debut of sophomore disc All the Lost Souls (92,000).

All told, 31 new artists entered the Billboard 200 this week, with the more SS-friendly fare popping up a little further down the list.  Read on for this week’s top 10, and other notable debuts.

This week’s top 10:

1. Reba McEntire – Reba Duets (301,000)
2. Kanye West – Graduation (226,000)
3. 50 Cent – Curtis (143,000)
4. Barry Manilow – The Greatest Songs of the Seventies (113,000)
5. Kenny Chesney – Just Who I Am: Pirates & Poets (112,000)
6. High School Musical 2 (99,000)
7. James Blunt – All the Lost Souls (92,000)
8. Chamillionaire - Ultimate Victory (79,000)
9. KT Tunstall – Drastic Fantastic (50,000)
10. Twista - Adrenaline Rush 2007 (41,000)

Other notable debuts:

11. Eddie Vedder – Into the Wild soundtrack (39,000)
16. Motion City Soundtrack – Even If It Kills Me (33,000)
20. Dropkick Murphys – The Meanest of Times (28,000)
26. Mark Knopfler – Kill to Get Crimson (23,000)

Wow - Despite all the hype surrounding Kanye and Fifty, despite all the press they squeezed out of their "beef," despite all the albums (almost 1.6 million) this manufactured rivalry managed to push across registers over the last week, album sales were still down 9% from the same week last year.  Yeesh.

As previously reported, Kanye's Graduation handily defeated 50 Cent's Curtis, 957,000 - 691,000, to finish in the top two positions.  Kenny Chesney finished a distant but solid third with 387,000 copies moved, followed by all that same kiddie crap we bitched about last week. 

This week's top 10:

1. Kanye West - Graduation (957,000)
2. 50 Cent - Curtis (691,000)
3. Kenny Chesney - Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates (387,000)
4. High School Musical 2 (133,000)
5. Hannah Montana 2 (42,000)
6. Fergie - The Dutchess (41,000)
7. Nickelback - All the Right Reasons (35,000)
8. Colbie Caillat - Coco (32,000)
9. NOW 25 (32,000)
10. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (31,000)

The numbers are in:

Kanye West: 957,000
50 Cent: 691,000

Kanye's total marks the highest sales week on Billboard since, ironically enough, 50 Cent's The Massacre sold 1.1 million in 2005.

Check back later for a full chart recap. 

It was a quiet week for new releases, so we won't get too up in arms about High School Musical 2's 4th consecutive week on top.  In fact based on the latest reports, Kanye, 50 and Kenny Chesney have already moved enough units since yesterday to supplant Zack Efron and co. on Billboard. The rest of the top ten, though, was on par with last week's crap-fest.    Not to beat a dead horse, but freakin' NICKLEBACK sold 36,000 copies, now almost two years after it released All The Right Reasons!  Sigh...will Ani DiFranco, Black Francis and Animal Collective move than many in their collective first week? 

This week's top 10:

1. High School Musical 2 soundtrack (165,000)
2. Fergie - The Dutchess (49,000)
3. Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2 (47,000)
4. Casting Crowns - The Altar and the Door (41,000)
5. Chiados - Bone Palace Ballet (39,000)
6. Hairspray soundtrack (39,000)
7. NOW 25 - (38,000)
8. Nickleback - All the Right Reasons (36,000)
9. Amy Winehoues - Back to Black (29,000)
10. Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight (28,000)

Album sales this week are down 3.8% compared to last week with 7.35 million units moved, and down 22.7% from same week last year.

Behold the worst week in recent Billboard chart memory!  Sure, sales weren't extra low (of course they were still down 4.9% from the same week last year), but the albums that did make an impact ranged from kitschy soundtracks, to kid pop, to bland Christian rock to TV soundtracks to, well, Fergie.  Yikes.  Springsteen's new disc can't come fast enough...

This week's top 10:

1. High School Musical 2 soundtrack (210,000)
2. Casting Crowns - The Altar and the Door (129,000)
3. Yung Joc - Hustlenomics (69,000)
4. Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2 (58,000)
5. Fergie - The Dutchess (51,000)
6. Hairspray soundtrack (45,000)
7. NOW 25 - (44,000)
8. Atreyu - Lead Sails Paper Anchor (43,000)
9. Ben Harper - Lifeline (41,000)
10. Nickleback - All the Right Reasons (far too many)

Folks, it's so bad that Nickleback is still in the top 10 after 100 weeks!!!  Only Ben Harper's Lifeline managed to inject any artistic credibility into the upper echelon of the charts, but Aesop Rock did managed to just sneak into the top 50 with 13,000 copies moved.  Again - yikes.

It's hard to believe that just a few years ago, R. Kelly's career was on life support following those well-documented legal troubles and a penchant for, shall we say, less than wholesome extra-ciricullar activities.  Judging by the ridiculous, innuendo-laden lyrics of his latest disc Double Up, he certainly hasn't let that mess stop him from getting his freak on, but it now seems as if all that drama was nothing more than a blip on the radar for an artist who spits out #1 albums like a pez dispenser.  This week marks his 6th visit to the top of the charts (with 386,000 units moved), while all of Kelly's 10 studio efforts have reached at least #2 on Billboard. 

Maroon 5's latest disc, It Won't Be Soon Before Long, took a 60% sales hit, falling 1-2 (172,000), while another former chart-topper, Linkin Park, slide to #3 (126,000).

Elsewhere people are STILL buying this Daughtry album (#6, 69,000), and probably will continue to do so until the next Nickleback album, while Perry Farrell's latest acid trip of an album, Satellite Party's Ultra Payloaded, was DOA (#91, 8,000).

This week's top 10:

1. R. Kelly - Double Up (386,000)
2. Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long (172,000)
3. Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight (126,000)
4. Jason Aldean - Relentless (98,000)
5. Daughtry - self-titled (69,000)
6. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (50,000)
7. U.S.D.A - Cold Summer (50,000)
8. Avri Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing (50,000)
9. Michael Buble - Call Me Irresponsible (48,000)
10. Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain (47,000)

Things were a LITTLE better on the charts this week, with Avril and NIN injecting a bit of life into continually floundering sales.  In the end, Lavigne's 3rd LP, The Best Damn Thing, proved prophetic - at least for this week, moving 286,000 copies.  This was a slip from the 381,000 copies 2004's Under My Skin pushed out during its first week, but still more than respectable these days.  Trent Reznor's new Nine Inch Nails disc, Year Zero, was backed by aggressive marketing tactics to get the band back on the cultural radar, and the efforts were rewarded by a number two bow with 187,000 copies sold.  This was again, off from Reznor's last effort With Teeth (272,000), but with this album receiving some of the critical acclaim lacking on that 2005 release, the end sales results will likely even out.  (But remain well off his mid-90's peak.)

Elsewhere on the charts was mostly a bunch of crap that we won't bother writing about.  How the hell is Daughtry still making money?

Billboard top 10:

1. Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing (286,000)
2. NIN - Year Zero (187,000)
3. NOW 24 (68,000)
4. Bucky Covington - Lyric Street (61,000)
5. Martina McBride - Waking Up Laughing (55,000)
6. Akon - Konvicted (52,000)
7. Daughtry - self-titled (52,000)
8. Tim McGraw - Let It Go (51,000)
9. Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts (49,000)
10. Timbaland - Timbaland Presents Shock Value (40,000)

Album sales were up 1.3% from last week, but still DOWN a whopping 10.7% from this time last year.  Yikes.

It seems like indie bands (former and current) are the only ones stirring up any excitement on Billboard these days.  After previous success stories from the Arcade Fire and The Shins, these week we see critical fav and former indie darling Modest Mouse reaching the top spot for the group's first #1.

The follow up to Modest Mouse's breakthrough disc, Good News For People Who Love Bad News (which debuted at no. 19 in 2004 with 68,000 copies moved), We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank reigned supreme with 129,000 units in its opening week. 

The rest of the top tier was comprised mainly of the usual suspects - R&B/Hip Hop acts (Akon, Musiq Soulchild) and Idol contestants (Elliot Yamin, Daughtry). 

James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem made a dent at no. 46, but feel far short of his well-marketed goal of reaching Billboard's summit.

This week's top 10:

1. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (129,000)
2. Joss Stone - Introducing Joss Stone (118,000)
3. Elliot Yamin - self-titled (90,000)
4. Daughtry - self-titled (76,000)
5. Marques Houston - Veteran (69,000)
6. AKon - Konvicted (69,000)
7. Lloyd - Street Love (55,000)
8. Musiq Soulchild - Luvanmusiq (54,000)
9. Rick Boy -self-titled (49,000)
10. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (48,000)

The Billboard charts got bum-rushed with six new discs this week, but none were able to keep sales out of free fall.  Solid debuts by Musiq Soulchild, Amy Winehouse, Neil Young and others still led to a 1.8% drop from last week, and a whopping 18.7% difference from the same week last year.  Yikes.  At least our new buddies The Fratellis snuck into the top 50 with 15,000 copies moved, no doubt on the strength of good ole' Apple cramming "Flathead" down our throats until the song is no more than a corporate jingle.

This week in Billboard:

1. Musiq Soulchild - Lunanmusiq (149,000)
2. Lloyd - Street Love (144,000)
3. Rich Boy - self-titled (112,000)
4. Daughtry - self-titled (80,000)
5. Akon - Konvicted (71,000)
6. Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971 (57,000)
7. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (51,000)
8. 8Ball and MJG - Ridin' High (50,000)
9. Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High (43,000)
10. Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts (42,000)

Ordinarily we wouldn't have much positive to say about this week's Billboard charts results: Another pitiful week of sales, another chart-topper that failed to crack 100K copies moved and a 19% decline overall from the same week last year.  In addition, it was a needless "Best Of" compilation for the late Notorious B.I.G. that took the top spot.  Sure, Mr. Wallace was certainly one of the greatest M.C.'s to ever live, but with only two legitimate LPs under his belt before his untimely death in 1997, do we really need a "best of" to cover such a limited catalog?

But we did find one bright spot: blogger Gods Arcade Fire stormed that charts all the way to number two (the band's 2004 release, Funeral, never charted higher that 131) with 92,000 discs sold.  This is the exact same chart position scored by another indie favorite, The Shins, though they managed the feat with a slightly heftier 118,000 copies moved.  (These similar debuts, incidentally, were predicted by the SS fortune tellers.  Go us!)

PS - Did anyone really think 51,000 people would buy Korn's MTV Unplugged?  Holy crap!

This week's Billboard top 10:

1. Notorious B.I.G. - Greatest Hits (99,000)
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (92,000)
3. Daughtry - self titled (82,000)
4. Akon - Konvicted (76,000)
5. Gary Allan - Greatest Hits (70,000)
6. Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago (64,000)
7. Norah Jones - Not Too Late (59,000)
8. Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High (58,000)
9. Korn - MTV Unplugged (51,000)
10. Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke (47,000)

Billboard is reporting another anemic sales week, with the chart-topper once again falling shy of the 100,000 copies mark.  This week's "winner" was Chris Daughtry, who's self-titled debut moved 90,000 units to overtake Norah Jones.

Elsewhere we saw several artists move up a few notches despite significant sales drops (Robin Thicke, right) and none of last week's new releases made much of a dent other than B.G. and the Chopper City Boyz's We Got This (No. 20, 27,000).  Things have gotten so bleak, even a re-release of the Goo Goo Doll's lackluster 2006 release Let Love In managed to crack the top 50.

Next week should be interesting, with releases from Air, Albert Hammond Jr. and Arcade Fire.  Can the latter pull off a Shins-like opening to rule the roost?  With these sales totals, it seems more than likely.

This week's top ten:

1. Daughtry - self-titled (90,000)
2. Norah Jones - Not Too Late (74,000)
3. Akon - Konvicted (73,000)
4. Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High (67,000)
5. Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke (57,000)
6. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (54,000)
7. Nelly Furtado - Loose (45,000)
8. Dreamgirls - soundtrack (45,000)
9. Corinne Baily Rae - self-titled (45,000)
10. Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way (42,000)