Billboard Beatdown: George Strait Outduels R.E.M.
31 albums made their Billboard 200 chart debut, and George Strait came out on top. There are at least 166,000 people not depressed by that fact. I am not one of them. Troubador, or True Bore, as I like to call it, is his fourth #1 album
R.E.M. came in second place with the release of their new album Accelerate. It’s been awhile since R.E.M. landed this high on the charts. The 115,000 copies and #2 position are the highest they’ve climbed since New Adventures in Hi-Fi in September 1996.
The latest installment in the insufferable NOW series came in a distant third. NOW 27 moved 66,000 copies.
I guess I’m showing my age (not to mention taste and discernment) when I say I have no idea who the act at #4 is. The self-titled debut from Day26 fell from the top spot into fourth position, selling 51,000 copies. That computes to a 73% sales decline. I hear there is still room in the cutout bins next to unsold copies of Paris Hilton’s record.
In the Department of “How Is This Not Child Abuse?,” the soundtrack to Alvin & The Chipmunks is back in the Top 5, selling 51,000 copies its ownself.
Now that we’ve abused the kids, let’s assault the language. Trina’s Still Da Baddest sold 47,000 copies to get her the #6 slot. Her last album, Glamorest Life didn’t quite reach the Top 10. This entire paragraph looked like a Christmas tree what with all the Microsoft Word green and red squiggly lines.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Danity Kane’s Welcome To The Dollhouse (47,000), Counting Crows’ Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (43,000), Rick Ross’ Trilla 41,000), and the venerable Van Morrison’s Keep It Simple (37,000). Somehow, this is Morrison’s first Top 10 debut. Astounding.
Other debuts of note include The Rolling Stones’ Shine a Light (#11/37,000), The Black Keys’ Attack & Release (#14, 29,000). Both figures represent career highs for the Black Keys.
Overall, album sales were down 3.5% compared with the same week last year. That’s a little surprising to me because of the depth of quality albums debuting last week, coming on the heels of a pretty good week before. I’m sure CD burners and filesharing are to blame.
The Billboard 200 Top 10
1. George Strait - Troubador (166,000)
2. R.E.M. – Accelerate (115,000)
3. Various Artists – NOW 27 (66,000)
4. Day 26 – Day26 (51,000)
5. OST – Alvin & The Chipmunks (51,000)
6. Trina – Still Da Baddest (47,000)
7. Danity Kane – Welcome To The Dollhouse (47,000)
8. Counting Crows – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (43,000)
9. Rick Ross – Trilla (41,000)
10. Van Morrison – Keep It Simple (37,000)
Filed under: Billboard Beatdown, Counting Crows, R.E.M., Rolling Stones
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Hi Josh / CoaFB,
On behalf of Lost Highway Records, many thanks for plugging Van Morrison’s new album and, if your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, full versions of “That’s Entrainment” and “Behind The Ritual” (along with album track samplers) are available for fans and bloggers to listen to (and link to) on Lost Highway’s web-site at http://www.losthighwayrecords.com .
Up-to-the-minute info on Keep It Simple and Van’s 2008 shows is, of course, also available on http://www.vanmorrison.com and http://www.myspace.com/vanmorrison and, for a limited period, you can still hear Van’s exclusive BBC interview and special concert at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/event_vanmorrison.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod.shtml?radio2/r2_vanmorrison .
Thanks again for your plug.
Regards,
WEB SHERIFF
Now 27?! You know someone out there proudly owns all 27 of those and whatever off-shoots there are but no or very few actual albums. (I saw a commercial for a 90s Now comp, which confounds my mind. Shouldn’t it be called “Then”?)
If I see that person, I will fight them.
heh, no accounting for taste, eh? i mean, the phenomenon of modern “country” music is an interesting one. it’s basically pop music with a little twang to it. i can sort of see how people can get drawn in to a song with a big hook….say, a Gretchen Wilson tune or something. but man, you listen to a minute of Strait’s “I Saw God Today” and you’re pretty much sure you’ve heard it before. i don’t get the appeal.
still though, it’s really no different than any other form of pop music.
i’d rather listen to Joe Ely or Dwight Yoakam.
I saw George Strait in concert once (he was headlining one of those all-day country shows in a stadium). I actually like some of his biggest hits — “Amarillo By Morning,” “It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You,” “The Chair” — but his concert was dreadful. Instead of playing his hits, he played old Bob Wills songs (which is fine if you like Bob Wills, but I went to hear George Strait hits).
Regarding Van Morrison, if his latest album is in fact his first Top 10 debut, that’s only because his best albums came out before the advent of Soundscan in ‘91. There’s no way this new one debuted higher than Moondance, Tupelo Honey, or his “Best Of..” compilations.