US Chart Goss

US album sales lowest for 12 years

Source: Music Week

Sales in America last week reached a 12-year low, hitting a little less than 9m, writes Alan Jones.

Only six albums sold more than 50,000 copies, 90 hit the 10,000 mark and the number 200 album sold just 4,208 copies. In a bleak week, sales were down 12.6% on the same seven days in 2005, and at their lowest ebb since January 1994.

At the top of the chart, Now! 22 prevails again, despite a 48% dip in sales to 207,004.

Debuting at number two, Texan fraternal trio Los Lonely Boys moved less than a third as many copies of their album Sacred, which sold 66,514 copies. Country singer Rodney Atkins takes advantage of the soft market to secure a number three debut for his album If You’re Going Through Hell, on sales of 55,123. These are the only two albums with enough firepower to debut inside the Top 20.

Meanwhile, Radiohead mainman Thom Yorke’s Eraser album plunges 2-16 on sales down 62% at 34,056, while Muse, who provided the other British interest in the Top 10 last week, see their Black Holes & Revelations set off by a similar 58% at 20,346 sales, and retreat 9-39 as a result.

In contrast with these dramatic dips, Leeds lass Corinne Bailey Rae’s self-titled debut album serenely breezes to its third straight week at number 20, its sales off just 2% at 30,123. KT Tunstall’s Eye To The Telescope is also in slow remission, falling 39-44 on its 24th week in the chart, as it sales dip 10% to 18,331. It has now sold 514,280 copies.

James Blunt completes the UK contingent in the Top 50, holding at number 48 with Back To Bedlam, which sold 17,433 copies last week, bringing its 42 week tally to 2,021,346.

Meanwhile, with I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor continuing its residency in the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, The Arctic Monkeys’ debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not re-enters the Top 200 at number 169. The album, which peaked at number 24 last week, increased its sales by 40% week-on-week to 5,063, and has thus far sold 244,863 copies.

There’s a massive clearout on the singles chart, with a 2006 high of 11 new entries on the Hot 100. Nelly Furtado and Timbaland continue at number one for the fifth straight week with Promiscuous, while Gnarls Barkley stay in second place.

The highest new entry comes from Ashlee Simpson, who secures her sixth Hot 100 hit with Invisible, which debuts at number 28. She leapfrogs sister Jessica, whose current single A Public Affair rises 38-30.

KT Tunstall’s Black Horse & The Cherry Tree rebounds 27-26, and remains the highest charting single by a UK artist. The track, which peaked at number 20 a few weeks ago, has sold 477,334 copies as a download, including 24,549 last week. Tunstall’s follow-up Suddenly I See dips 88-90 on its second week on the Hot 100, while falling 58-63 on the download chart.