US Chart Goss

Ludacris leads busy Billboard albums chart

Source: Music Week

With another 28 arrivals flooding into the Top 200, the number of new entries on the US Billboard albums chart in the last three weeks climbs to 87, writes Alan Jones.

All of the top four are new entries, and, in defiance of early sales trends, it is Ludacris who earns pole position for the third time in his career with Release Therapy selling 309,284, while early leader Janet Jackson secures her eighth top three album in a row, debuting in second place on sales of 296,278 with 20 Y.O.

Meanwhile, Tony Bennett secures the highest charting album of his career, debuting at number three with Duets: An American Classic on sales of 201,636, a month after celebrating his 80th birthday. As its title suggests, Duets finds Bennett sharing the spotlight on remakes of some of his most popular songs with co-vocalists. It follows closely the template of his old pal Frank Sinatra, who hit number two with his very own Duets set at the age of 77 in 1993, and number nine with Duets II the following year.

Bennett’s album includes contributions from several Brits; Paul McCartney, Elton John, Elvis Costello and George Michael all share vocals with Bennett, who himself sang alongside Sinatra on New York, New York for Ol’ Blue Eyes’ set.

Duets extends Bennett’s span as an album chart artist to more than 49 years, increases his tally of chart albums to 38 and tops the number five peak of I Left My Heart In San Francisco, which provided him with his second chart album, his signature tune and his previous best placing in 1962.

Completing the Top 10’s new intake, country star Alan Jackson’s Like Red On A Rose sold 148,503 copies to debut at number four, while Weird Al Yankovic’s novelty value still hasn’t diminished, as he lands his 13th chart album, and first Top 10 success with Straight Outta Lynwood, which debuts at number 10 on sales of 72,600. Much of its impetus comes from White And Nerdy, a parody of Chamillionaire’s Ridin’, which also earns Yankovic highest debut honours on the Hot 100 singles chart, where it debuts at number 28, thanks to 39,531 first week downloads, which also earn it 10th slot in the digital songs chart.

Like Tony Bennett, veteran rocker Jerry Lee Lewis achieves a career high with an album of duets. Lewis turned 71 last week, and debuts at number 26 with Last Man Standing, which sold 33,659 copies last week. His 21st charted album, it features ‘The Killer’, as he is known, in country-tinged collaborations like Honky Tonk Women with Kid Rock, Pink Cadillac with Bruce Springsteen and Lost Highway with Delaney Bramlett. As with Bennett, UK content is high, with Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger & Ron Wood, Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton all partnering him.

Three places below Lewis, Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open set is stuck at number 29, even though its sales are up 13% week-on-week to 31,948. The top UK act in the chart, they also remain our most significant act on the Hot 100, where Chasing Cars rested for three weeks at number six, but now climbs a notch to number five.

Meanwhile, Akon has the number 95 single for the second week in a row. He held the position last week with Smack That, and now replaces himself there with I Wanna Love You.

Smack That hasn’t dipped out of the chart - on the contrary, it becomes the biggest climber in chart history, catapulting to number seven for an 88 place gain, to beat the previous record set earlier this year, when Breaking Free from Disney’s High School Musical jumped 86-4. Smack That features Eminem alongside Akon, and I Wanna Love You also features Snoop Dogg.

To secure his first number one, Akon must first find a way past Justin Timberlake, who tops the Hot 100 for the sixth week in a row with SexyBack.