The Billboard 200
On the chart this week, One Direction found a home at No. 1 with its second album, “Take Me Home.” The SYCO/Columbia effort moved 540,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, marking the third-largest debut of the year. Six more albums started in the top 10, including the new “Twilight” soundtrack, Christina Aguilera’s latest, the Weeknd’s major-label debut and Soundgarden’s first album in more than 15 years.
As always, there was other news on the charts this week, so let’s take a look at some of the other movers and shakers on the Billboard 200.
— Susan Boyle: The “Britain’s Got Talent” contestant-turned-star misses the top 10 for the first time, as her fourth album, “Standing Ovation,” takes a bow with 47,000 at No. 12. Her first two releases debuted at No. 1, while last year’s “Someone to Watch Over Me” opened and peaked at No. 4. In other Boyle news, her Christmas set “The Gift” earns the chart’s biggest positional leap, rising 99 slots from No. 191 to No. 92 with 6,000 sold. The album collected a big 116% gain last week — not surprising since most seasonal sets are experiencing big sales bumps thanks to the fast-approaching Christmas holiday.
— Whitney Houston: The singer’s second greatest hits album, “I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston,” debuts at No. 14 with 39,000 sold and also arrives at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It’s her first compilation to include all 11 of her No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 singles in their familiar hit versions.
Her only other American hits set, “Whitney: The Greatest Hits,” offered most of her best-known ballads, but substituted remixes of her uptempo singles instead of the well-known original versions. For example, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is represented by a Junior Vasquez club mix, while “So Emotional” is re-worked by Dave Morales.
— The Rolling Stones: Celebrating the band’s 50 years in music, its latest greatest hits album “GRRR!” was issued in a variety of configurations. The slimmest configuration is one containing 40 songs, while another has 50, and then an even more deluxe box set has 80 songs. For charting purposes, the 40 and 50 song editions are combined, while the 80-song set charts separately. So at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 arrives the 40 and 50 song sets, having sold a combined 31,000. (The 80-song version did not sell enough to chart.)
“GRRR!” follows the iconic act’s 40th anniversary best-of package, aptly titled “Forty Licks,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Oct. 19, 2002 chart with 309,000. Its robust number was amplified by the fact that “Forty Licks” was the Stones’ first compilation to include material from its entire career. Also helping matters was the publicity generated by the band’s Licks Tour, which had kicked off in earnest on Sept. 3 of that year. In contrast, the band isn’t on the road at the present, but will play five one-off shows in London; Brooklyn, New York and Newark, N.J., beginning Nov. 25.
— Justin Bieber: This week his “Believe” album becomes the sixth album to surpass 1 million sales this year, as it moved another 16,000 copies last week (falling 31-34 on the chart). Its grand total now rises to 1,006,000.
— Pentatonix: With the arrival of “PTXmas” EP at No. 45 (12,000 sold), the a cappella group scores its second top 50 set of the year. Earlier, on July 14, “The Sing Off” act netted a No. 14 debut and peak with “PTX: Volume 1.” At the “American Music Awards” on Nov. 18, the ensemble’s Scott Hoying told Billboard, “We all picked our favorite songs that we wanted to sing and a couple more that we all wanted to do together.” But they aren’t straight-ahead renditions, as the group “added hip-hop beats … and different bass lines, so it’ll definitely be the song you know, but in a different way.”
The group is on tour through March and will next play a pair of dates in Florida on Nov. 27 and 28, followed by gigs in Atlanta (29), Carrboro, N.C. (Dec. 1) and Charlottesville, Va. (Dec. 2). [Billboard.biz]
