In the busiest week of the year, a total of 33 new entries flood into the Billboard Top 200 album chart with Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds the new runaway chart champion, writes Alan Jones.

 

Timberlake’s second solo album sold 684,461 copies last week - the highest one week tally in 2006. It’s 56% up on the opening week of his previous set, Justified, which debuted and peaked at number two in 2002 but way down on the all-time record first week sale set by Timberlake himself along with his N-Sync cohorts, when No Strings Attached sold 2.4m copies on its first week in 2000. N-Sync also own second place on the list, with 2001’s Celebrity, which opened with sales of 1.9m.

 

Compared to them perhaps FutureSex/LoveSounds didn’t do so well - but it’s way up on the 176,000 that rapper Paul Wall sold to take the number one slot in the same week in 2005, and one reason why overall album sales last week, at 10.05m, were 0.9% up on the same week last year, and 5.6% up week-on-week.

 

According to Billboard, Timberlake’s album is the 300th to debut at number one in chart history, and the 27th this year. Timberlake also remains number one on the Hot 100 singles chart with SexyBack.

 

Another four albums debut inside the Top 10: Singer/songwriter John Mayer’s Continuum is a distant second with sales of 299,664; veteran rocker Bob Seger, now 61, scores the 17th chart album of a 37 year chart career, debuting at number four with Face The Promise on sales of 150,833; Lionel Richie races to number six with Coming Home on sales of 75,220, to secure his highest charting album since Dancing On The Ceiling topped the list in 1986; and Mars Volta crash in at number nine, after selling 59,078 copies of Amputechre.

 

Making way for Timberlake at the top, Beyonce’s B’day slips to third place on sales down 70% at 161,594.

 

With so many new entries bursting into the upper echelon, there are inevitably some steep falls, with Audioslave’s Revelations off 2-12 on sales down 65% at 49,102. Jessica Simpson’s Public Affair dives 7-30 with a 55% dip to 26,745 sales. And, after being the top UK act on the list last week, Iron Maiden slide 9-43 with A Matter Of Life And Death losing 64% of its support, with 20,066 buyers.

 

Of the 33 new entries only one is by a British act. A new and developing talent? Not really - the solo Limey newcomer is veteran rocker Peter Frampton, who takes advantage of exposure on Simon Cowell’s new US show Celebrity Duets to secure a number 129 debut with Fingerprints on sales of 7,928. Frampton, 56, first made the US chart as a member of Humble Pie in 1971, and made his solo debut the following year. He topped the chart for 10 weeks in 1976 with his concert classic Frampton Comes Alive and last charted in 1989 with Where All The Pieces Fit. Fingerprints is his 12th solo chart entry, and his highest since Premonition reached number 80 in 1986.

 

Snow Patrol take over as the top UK act in the chart, with Eyes Open climbing 36-31 to beat its previous chart peak of 34 on its 19th week in the chart. It sold 26,038 copies last week to take its total to 321,204, and continues to benefit from the success of the band’s first Hot 100 hit, Chasing Cars, which holds at number six while retaining its bullet.

 

All of the other Brits in the album chart suffer declines.

 

Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake’s position at the top of the Hot 100 is under threat, with Money Maker by Ludacris feat. Pharrell rocketing 15-2, while 16 year old JoJo explodes 66-3 with Too Little Too Late. Both are heavily indebted to downloads for their improvements - JoJo’s track debuts at number two on the downloads list with 120.,995 sales on its first week, while Money Maker improves 13-3 with a 199% increase in sales to 106,713. SexyBack also improves digital sales, with a 9% rise to 172,408 cementing its position at the summit.

 

Source: Music Week

684k for JT in his 1st week - Whoa. Great stuff.

The report is wrong...

 

He's not the highest one week tally in 2006, he's the second highest...

I was going to say, Rascal Flatts are the biggest Debut so far with 700K arent they!

I don't get the fascination with sexyback... it's a terrible single. :puke2: