Keith Urban Claims First No. 1 Album On The Billboard 200 April 08, 2009
KEITH URBAN
Editor: Keith Caulfield; Contributors: Gary Trust, Alex Vitoulis; Editorial Director: Silvio Pietroluongo
Keith Urban notches his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with "Defying Gravity," which sold 171,000 copies in its first week. The set just beats out runner-up Prince, who debuts at No. 2 with 168,000 for his Target-exclusive "LotusFlow3r" album . . . Also starting in the top 10 this week: Diana Krall, UGK and Flo Rida . . . In other news, we've got updates on George Strait's latest No. 1 single, the rise of Seether and MGMT on the Modern Rock radio airplay chart and Pink's trio of No. 1s on the Adult Top 40 radio chart.
FLASH POINTS
• Keith Urban celebrates his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 as "Defying Gravity" arrives with 171,000. The country star previously reached as high as No. 3 twice, with "Be Here" in 2004 and "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing" in 2006. On Top Country Albums, "Gravity" is his third chart-topper.
• Meanwhile, Prince's Target-exclusive "LotusFlow3r" album arrives right behind at No. 2 with 168,000, giving the artist his 14th top 10 set. The triple-disc indie effort, which carried an economical $11.98 price tag and includes an album from Prince protege Bria Valente, gives the icon his fourth straight studio set to debut in the top three. Prince's 2003 set "Musicology" started at No. 3 with 191,000; 2006's "3121" began at No. 1 with 183,000 and 2007's "Planet Earth" entered at No. 3 with 96,000.
• Diana Krall returns with "Quiet Nights," entering the Billboard 200 at a career-high No. 3 while garnering her ninth No. 1 on Top Jazz Albums (104,000). It's also her best debut sales week since "The Girl in the Other Room" entered with 144,000 in 2004. Since then, she's peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 with the seasonal set "Christmas Songs" in 2005, the studio album "From This Moment On" (No. 7 in 2006) and the hits package "The Very Best of Diana Krall" (No. 19 in 2007).
• UGK nets its second top 10 album as "UGK 4 Life" bows at No. 6 with 77,000. It's the first release from the hip-hop duo since one-half of the pair, Pimp C, died in late 2007. The act's last album, the double-disc "Underground Kingz," bowed at No. 1 a few months earlier in 2007 with 160,000.
• While he may have the year's top-selling digital song with "Right Round" (2.4 million sold and counting), Flo Rida's sophomore album, "R.O.O.T.S.," starts with a much smaller number -- 55,000 -- at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. "Right Round," the lead single from "R.O.O.T.S.," topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks and holds for a second week at No. 1 on the Mainstream Top 40 radio airplay chart. Flo Rida's first album, "Mail on Sunday," started at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 86,000 on the chart dated April 5, 2008.
• Last week's No. 1, the "Now 30" compilation, slips to No. 4 with 87,000 (down 40%), the "Hannah Montana: The Movie" soundtrack slides from No. 2 to No. 5 with 87,000 (down 38%), the "Twilight" soundtrack dips four notches to No. 7 with 73,000 (down 28%), Lady GaGa's "The Fame" shifts 51,000 with a 13% gain but drops two slots to No. 9 while Taylor Swift's "Fearless" rounds out the top 10 at No. 10, up two slots (42,000; up 5%).
The Billboard 200
Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan
*1
New
KEITH URBAN Defying Gravity (Capitol Nashville )
11
4
KERI HILSON In A Perfect World... (Mosley / Zone 4 / Interscope / IGA)
U2 No Line On The Horizon (Island / Interscope / IGA)
*3
New
DIANA KRALL Quiet Nights (Verve / VG)
*13
New
CHRIS BOTTI Chris Botti: In Boston (Columbia / Sony Music)
4
1
VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW 30 (Universal / EMI / Sony Music / Zomba / UMe)
14
5
KELLY CLARKSON All I Ever Wanted (S / 19 / RCA / Sony Music)
5
2
SOUNDTRACK Hannah Montana: The Movie (Walt Disney )
*15
New
RODNEY ATKINS It's America (Curb )
*6
New
UGK UGK 4 Life (Trill / UGK / Jive / JLG)
*16
New
BOW WOW New Jack CitY II (Columbia / Sony Music)
7
3
SOUNDTRACK Twilight (Summit / Chop Shop / Atlantic / AG)
17
18
NICKELBACK Dark Horse (Roadrunner )
*8
New
FLO RIDA R.O.O.T.S. (Route Of Overcoming The Struggle) (Poe Boy / Atlantic / AG)
18
14
THE-DREAM Love V/S Money (Radio Killa / Def Jam / IDJMG)
*9
7
LADY GAGA The Fame (Streamline / KonLive / Cherrytree / Interscope / IGA)
*19
New
GAVIN DEGRAW Free (J / RMG)
*10
12
TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless (Big Machine )
*20
78
DAVID COOK David Cook (19 / RCA / RMG)
* indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week
MARKET WATCH
• Album units, current chart week: 7.1 million units • UP 5% from last week's charts: 6.8 million units • DOWN 11% from same week, 2008: 7.9 million units • This week: The top three albums each sell more than 100,000 copies. • This week last year on the Billboard 200: George Strait's "Troubadour" topped the list in its first week with 166,000. R.E.M. debuted in the runner-up slot with "Accelerate" (115,000) while Trina started at No. 6 with "Still Da Baddest" (47,000). The previous week's No. 1, Day26's self-titled set, slipped to No. 4 with 51,000 (down 73%).
BORDERLINES
• The No. 100 album this week, the "High School Musical 3" soundtrack (Walt Disney), sold 6,000. • The No. 100 album for the same week of 2008, Flyleaf's "Flyleaf" (A&M/Octone/IGA), sold 7,000. • Average total of the No. 100 album for the same week of the year during the past 10 years (2000-2009): 11,000.
PROGRESS REPORTS
• George Strait notches his 44th No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart as "River of Love" climbs to the top of the tally in its 22nd chart week. His first No. 1, "Fool Hearted Memory," came almost 27 years ago, when it hit the top on Aug. 28, 1982.
• Seether claims its fourth straight top 10 single on the Modern Rock radio airplay chart as its cover of Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" skips from No. 13 to No. 8 this week. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Modern Rock list, MGMT celebrates its first top 10 hit as "Kids" rises from No. 12 to No. 9 in its 21st chart week.
• On the Adult Top 40 radio airplay chart, Pink's "Sober" hits No. 1 this week, giving the singer her third straight No. 1, following "So What" (2008) and "Who Knew" (2007). She's the first artist to score three consecutive toppers, and also the only solo artist to notch three No. 1s overall.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Among the titles released this week, due on next week's charts: Rascal Flatts' "Unstoppable," Jason Aldean's "Wide Open," Jadakiss' "The Last Kiss," Neil Young's "Fork in the Road," Jesse McCartney's relaunched "Departure" album and Billy Ray Cyrus' "Back to Tennessee."
• Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2008 when: Leona Lewis' debut album, "Spirit," flew in at No. 1 with 205,000. The previous week's topper, George Strait's "Troubadour," slipped to No. 2 with 59,000 (down 65%). Three more albums bowed in the top 10, led by James Otto's "Sunset Man" at No. 3 with 58,000.
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