Swift Tops Billboard 200 with Lowest #1 Sum

Taylor Swift sets a "record" that no one wanted to have on its belt,"Speak Now" is still the best selling album in the US but with sales of 52k it became the lowest selling #1 album since Nielsen Soundscan handled the tabulation of the Billboard 200 in 1991. Before the Soundscan era, Billboard just gathered sales data from reports from record chains. There could be lower selling #1s before like in the 50s and 60s but we'll probably never know.

"Speak Now" broke the previous record held by the OST of "Dreamgirls" which sold 60K in 2007. Here's the top 10 list of lowest selling albums that top the Billboard 200 courtesy of Pulse Music Board:

1. 52,028 Taylor Swift - Speak Now (1/22/11)
2. 60,064 Dreamgirls (1/27/07)
3. 60,343 Justin Bieber - My World 2.0 (5/29/10)
4. 60,519 Alicia Keys - As I Am (2/2/2008 )
5. 61,259 Alicia Keys - As I Am (2/16/2008)
6. 62,272 Taylor Swift - Fearless (3/7/2009)
7. 62,575 Taylor Swift - Fearless (2/7/09)
8. 62,947 Glee: The Music: Volume 3: The Showstoppers (6/12/10)
9. 63,301 Taylor Swift - Fearless (1/31/09)
10. 64,831 Juno (2/9/2008)

Despite earning that dubious record, all is not bad for Taylor Swift as "Speak Now" tops the 3 million sales mark this week, and she did it in just 11 weeks! Swift's previous blockbuster "Fearless" took 22 weeks to sell that amount. The lowest #1 tally is not really a taint on Swift's career but just a reflection on how horrible the album sales climate are these days. And with no major upcoming releases until February I'm afraid that there would be a #1 album that could sell in the 40k range or even lower in the next couple of weeks.

Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" climbs to match its debut peak at #2, it sold 39K. Also matching its debut peak is Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" back at #3 selling 38K. The Tron Legacy soundtrack earned a new peak at #4 with sales of 34K. 2010's best selling album "Recovery" by Eminem is down #2-#5 (33K) followed by Rihanna's "Loud" at #6 (33K) and Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" at #7 (33K). Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More" is a non-mover at #8 (31K) followed by country artist Jason Aldean "My Kinda Party" up #13-#9 (29K) and the OST of the Gwyneth Paltrow movie "Country Song" caps of the top 10 this week soaring from #149 (28K).

Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" dropped #9 to #11 selling 28K this week but the good news, the album crossed the 1 million sales mark this week. When Perry's second album sold 192K on its first week back in August 2010, many were disappointed as "California Gurls" was such a phenomenal hit that people expected the first week sales of her album to be at least in the 300K range. Some people even labeled the album as flop but Perry proved the naysayers wrong as the album had stable sales for the next 19 weeks which is no doubt boosted by her successful follow up singles "Teenage Dream" and "Firework" that both hit #1 on the Hot 100.

American Idol Season 10 premieres on January 19 with some major revamping after a lackluster season 9. Reflecting how 'ho-hum' the previous season was, AI 9 winner Lee DeWyze's debut album "Live It Up" has so far only sold 106K, it's currently at #147 selling just 4k this week as reported by USA Today's Idol Chatter. Runner up Crystal Bowersox is faring better although her sales is still not impressive. Bowersox's debut album "Farmer's Daughter" is at #47 this week selling 9k bringing its total sales to 116K, 10K more than DeWyze.

Here's is this week's Top 30 on the Billboard 200 as posted at Pulse Music Board:

1 SWIFT*TAYLOR SPEAK NOW 52,028 -32 77,001 3,012,359
2 MINAJ*NICKI PINK FRIDAY 38,642 -36 60,853 890,483
3 MARS*BRUNO DOO - WOPS & HOOLIGANS 38,175 -15 45,160 495,937
4 SOUNDTRACK TRON LEGACY 34,333 -37 54,385 277,234
5 EMINEM RECOVERY 33,417 -47 63,316 3,448,344
6 RIHANNA LOUD 33,387 -46 61,686 785,284
7 WEST*KANYE MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANT 33,240 -43 58,436 915,391
8 MUMFORD & SONS SIGH NO MORE 31,005 -20 38,547 657,470
9 ALDEAN*JASON MY KINDA PARTY 29,362 -15 34,356 716,639
10 VARIOUS ARTISTS COUNTRY STRONG (ORIG 28,450 477 4,929 71,399
11 PERRY*KATY TEENAGE DREAM 28,028 -27 38,223 1,024,580
12 LADY ANTEBELLUM MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS 26,566 175 9,660 279,766
13 KELLY*R. LOVE LETTER 25,612 -24 33,692 311,127
14 BLACK KEYS BROTHERS 24,957 18 21,239 505,994
15 BLACK EYED PEAS THE BEGINNING 22,652 -35 35,061 409,674
16 FOXX*JAMIE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE 22,588 -37 35,599 202,115
17 KID ROCK BORN FREE 21,731 -21 27,586 661,823
18 LADY ANTEBELLUM NEED YOU NOW 19,465 2 18,993 3,108,768
19 T.I. NO MERCY 19,318 -41 32,646 352,601
20 P!NK GREATEST HITS SO FAR 18,832 -15 22,245 303,100
21 JACKSON*MICHAEL MICHAEL 17,734 -35 27,332 423,017
22 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC, V4 17,284 -34 26,003 422,886
23 COLE*KEYSHIA CALLING ALL HEARTS 16,820 -54 36,558 181,344
24 HILSON*KERI NO BOYS ALLOWED 16,793 -49 32,747 152,045
25 LIL WAYNE I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING 15,484 -41 26,390 679,616
26 FLORENCE + THE MACHINE LUNGS 15,237 -26 20,499 389,619
27 GROBAN*JOSH ILLUMINATIONS 14,972 -36 23,222 658,091
28 VARIOUS NOW 36 14,218 -37 22,416 472,250
29 BROWN*ZAC BAND YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE 14,061 -14 16,295 611,387
30 RASCAL FLATTS NOTHING LIKE THIS 13,869 -28 19,212 559,011

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There's not much action on the Hot Digital Songs chart as the 'explosive' songs of Bruno Mars ("Grenade") and Katy Perry ("Firework") continue to dominate the chart. Both songs are still on a close fight for the Hot 100 #1 this week Paul Grein from Yahoo! Chart Watch already posted this week's Top 10 on the Hot 100 and Grenade is back on top. But next week there will be a major shake up on the Hot Digital Songs Chart as it is already expected that Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" will top the chart but the question is how much will it sell? Plus would it also debut at #1 on the Hot 100 like "3" two years ago. Let's wait and see ;)

Here is this week's Top 10 on the Hot Digital Songs Chart as reported at Billboard.com

1. Bruno Mars' "Grenade" (275K)
2. Katy Perry's "Firework" (230K)
3. Enrique Iglesias featuring Ludacris & DJ Frank E's "Tonight (I'm F*ckin/Lovin' You)" (192K)
4. Wiz Khalifa's "Black And Yellow" (186K)
5. The Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (181K)
6. Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" (174K)
7. Lil Wayne featuring Cory Gunz's "6 Foot 7 Foot" (160K)
8. P!nk's "Raise Your Glass" (158K)
9. Rihanna featuring Drake, "What's My Name?" (150K)
10. Taio Cruz "Dynamite" (125K).

UPDATE: Here is this week's Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 courtesy of Yahoo! Chart Watch. Full Hot 100 will be posted tomorrow:

1. Bruno Mars' "Grenade"
   
2. Katy Perry's "Firework"
   
3. Rihanna featuring Drake, "What's My Name?"
4. Ke$ha's "We R Who We R"
   
5. P!nk's "Raise Your Glass"
   
6. Enrique Iglesias featuring Ludacris & DJ Frank E's "Tonight (I'm F*ckin/Lovin' You)"
   
7. Wiz Khalifa's "Black And Yellow"
   
8. The Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)"
   
9. Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are"
   
10. Rihanna "Only Girl (In The World)"