December 16, 2009

By By Keith Caulfield, L.A.

Susan Boyle remains atop the Billboard 200 chart for a third week with "I Dreamed a Dream," selling 582,000 copies (up 10%), according to Nielsen SoundScan. So far, "I Dreamed a Dream" has sold 1.8 million and is racing after Taylor Swift's "Fearless," currently the top selling album of 2009 with 2.7 million.

Along with "Fearless," Boyle's "Dream" is just the second album to spend three weeks at No. 1 this year. Swift's album spent seven weeks at No. 1 in the 2009 calendar year, in addition to three weeks atop the chart in late 2008

"I Dreamed a Dream" is also just the eighth album to sell at least 500,000 copies in each of its first three weeks of release, since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. And, it's the only album by a woman to do so. The last set to charge through 500,000 in each of its first three weeks was 50 Cent's "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'," in March of 2003.

Andrea Bocelli's "My Christmas" continues to play runner-up to Boyle's "Dream," meanwhile, finding itself stuck at No. 2 for a fifth week (400,000; down 7%).

The top debut on the Billboard 200 this week is the second installment of the "Glee" TV soundtrack, which sings out at No. 3 in its first week with 173,000. Released the same week as the Golden Globe-nominated Fox TV show's fall mid-season finale, the set follows the first "Glee" soundtrack, which debuted at No. 4 in November with 113,000. This week, "Glee: The Music, Volume 1" rises from No. 20 to No. 11 with 85,000 (up 57%).

Chris Brown lands the week's second-biggest debut, with his third album "Graffiti" bowing at No. 7 with 102,000. Brown's last set, "Exclusive," debuted at No. 4 in 2007 with 294,000. As previously reported, Brown took to his Twitter account -- which has since been deleted -- to complain that U.S. music retailers were boycotting "Graffiti," though sources suggest that his label may have overshipped the album.

Rounding out the top entries on the chart this week is imprisoned rapper Gucci Mane with his major label debut, "The State Vs. Radric Davis," at No. 10 with 90,000.

As for the other non-debuts in the top 10, Taylor Swift's "Fearless" moves down one rung to No. 4 with 168,000 (up 32%), while Carrie Underwood feels the impact of her Fox TV Christmas special last week -- her "Play On" album climbs from No. 6 to No. 5 with 107,000 (up 32%).

Lady Gaga's "The Fame" falls one position to No. 6 (103,000; down 23%), Justin Bieber's "My World" zips from No. 12 to No. 8 (97,000; up 45%), and Michael Bubl?'s "Crazy Love" inches up one slot to No. 9 (92,000; up 28%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Dec. 13) totaled 12.00 million units, up 18% compared to the sum last week (10.14 million) and down 7% compared to the same sales week of 2008 (12.93 million). Year to date album sales stand at 342.3 million, down 13% compared to the same total at this point last year (394.2 million).

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