Taylor Swift and two of her country peers top the Billboard 200 albums chart this week. Swift’s Speak Now again reigns supreme. In its second week it experienced a substantial but expected drop off from its one million copy debut, selling 320,000 albums. Jason Aldean‘s My Kinda Party opens at No. 2 with 193,000 records sold, while Sugarland‘s once No. 1 The Incredible Machine drops one spot to No. 3 with 60,000 sets moved. The last time a trio of country stars led the chart was November 10, 2007, when Carrie Underwood’s Carnival Ride, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand, and Gary Allan’s Living Hard topped the competition.
Brad Paisley joins the three country stars in the top 10 this week as well. His greatest hits set, Hits Alive debuts at No. 9, selling 31,000 albums. Check out the list of the Billboard 200′s top 10 below.
Nov. 10, 2010′s Billboard 200 albums top 10
No. 1 – Taylor Swift, Speak Now: 320,000
No. 2 – Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party: 193,000
No. 3 – Sugarland, The Incredible Machine: 60,000
No. 4 – Mariah Carey, Merry Christmas II You: 55,000
No. 5 – Lil Wayne, I Am Not a Human Being: 49,000
No. 6 – Kings of Leon, Come Around Sundown: 40,000
No. 7 – Eminem, Recovery: 38,000
No. 8 – Neil Diamond, Dreams: 35,000.
No. 9 – Brad Paisley, Hits Alive: 31,000
No. 10 – Elton John and Leon Russell, The Union: 27,000
(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
Go Taylor!!
Enough of Taylor Swift already!! Talk about somebody else – please!
Thank you. I could use a 5 year break from her.
Me too.. I had enough of her! Can she not release a new album for awhile after this. Awhile as in 8 years.
Simple facts:
SPEAK NOW accounted for nearly one out of every five albums bought last week (an ALL-TIME RECORD, the highest market share percentage in Nielsen SoundScan history). And those figures DON’T include the fact that Swift had THREE OTHER albums on the Billboard 200 (all in the top Sixty, even though they were all from 2-to-4 years old).
Swift’s accomplishments for the last decade include:
the all-time world record for digital sales;
a debut album which is the longest-charting Billboard 200 album of the decade;
a sophomore album which made Taylor the top-selling artist for 2 straight years, spent the most weeks at #1 of any album this decade, and won the Grammy for Record of the Year;
and a Holiday EP which is #1 on the Holiday Album charts.
Now we all get that you’re unimpressed with Swift’s merits. Obviously, youi just have so much more insight thaeveryone else — even notoriously hardened critics from the Village Voice, New Yorker, New York Times, American Songwriter Magazine, even Robert Christgau, who have whatever you may think of Swift’s artistic merit
Are you from her label? Not everyone has to like her.
Simple facts:
SPEAK NOW accounted for nearly one out of every five albums bought last week (an ALL-TIME RECORD, the highest market share percentage in Nielsen SoundScan history). That’s NEWS folks … important news for an industry that has been reeling.
EW’s job is to REPORT on important news (not to pander to your tastes for stories about whatever mediocre artists you like).
Swift sold over a million albums! More than numbers #2 through 62 COMBINED. Those figures DON’T include THREE OTHER Swift albums on the Billboard 200 (all in the top Sixty, even though they’re all 2-to-4 years old).
Swift’s accomplishments for the last decade include:
the all-time world record for digital sales;
a debut album which is the longest-charting Billboard 200 album of the decade;
a sophomore album which made Taylor the top-selling artist for 2 straight years, spent the most weeks at #1 of any album this decade, and won the Grammy for Record of the Year;
and a Holiday EP which is #1 on the Holiday Album charts.
Now we all get it. You haters are unimpressed with Swift’s merits. Obviously, you just have so much more insight than everyone else — the Grammy folks, BMI (which keep giving her major songwriting awards), even notoriously hardened critics from the Village Voice, New Yorker, New York Times, American Songwriter Magazine, even Robert Christgau. But anyone who keeps breaking sales and attendance records, winning awards and making fans google every bit of news about her … is going to get attention. Nothing you can do about it, so you might as well either tune in, or tune out and go away.
She’s NEWS. Your constant whining isn’t.
No Paul, I’m not from her label, and I didn’t say everyone has to like her.
My point is that millions of people DO like her, including some of the most respected music critics in the nation, and Swift happens to be doing things that nobody her age has EVER done before. That’s WHY she gets so much attention.
The records she sets are NOT hype; they are essential NEWS ITEMS that are so significant to the industry that it would be absurd not to report them.
Don’t like it don’t read it! But you don’t get to tell the press not to print stories about people who are making history.
Good job, Taylor! Whoo-hoo!
After the CMAs tonight, all these country artists at the top of the charts will go away after next week’s charts come out, and THANK GOD. Kinda funny how Ms. Swift is moving all these records, and has all these songs on the Hot 100, but it looks like “Mine” will be lucky to find its way back to the top 10 in the coming weeks. I mean seriously, her selling that many albums is GREAT for the industry, but I guarantee her label is fumbling around now, trying to decide if they’re going to push “Back To December” (if she performs it tonight) in the coming weeks since “Mine” has already peaked. The Kanye song “Innocent” is going to drop like a brick on tomorrow’s Hot 100 chart, and “Mine” will be lucky if it makes it back in the top 20. Is this the cost of overpromoting her new album?
I mean seriously, I have no idea what you are talking about! What the heck is your point?
Taylor has a hit album now, but the single isn’t going back into the top 15 or top 10, the single sits at #34 on the current iTunes chart. So now after the MASSIVE promotion they’ve done by putting taylow EVERYWHERE last week, the label HAS to pick a new single QUICK, like today. Thats my point. They had booked on “mine” being a HUGE pop hit and carrying her thru the holidays. ITS NOT HAPPENING. What part of that didn’t you understand?
Okay Phil, I’ve got your point now. But I would be pretty certain the record company has their strategy all planned out. Taylor has had several hits off each of her albums so far. I’m sure there’s a list of how and when they intend to release each of the songs they are plugging as singles. I know most people try to toss this poor girl under the bus, but she really has a talent for writing songs with a great “hook” that are very playable and appealing to country radio. So she’s not the greatest singer…many of our most popular and best-selling American singers aren’t either, but that doesn’t stop their careers from taking off.
Poor girl. She grew up rich and made it big really young. There is nothing poor about her. Am I a bit jealous? Maybe, but she is definitely not poor.
Phil the hot 100 these days are not based on just radio play but also downloads. This is why pop songs are always making it to the top like Kesha and Katy Perry. Pop artist fans are less likely to buy a full album than to download a song. The fact that the album was release could account for the drop in download sells.
she deserves it! She writes great songs and is extremely likable and down to earth.
The fact that Eminem can still sell 38,000 copies after his album has been out for almost 6 months. Go Em!
Yeah, not an Eminem fan but that is pretty amazing.
Come on Paul you think there is always something wrong with Taylor Swift and her achievements. I think youre just another devil and you should divert your attention elsewhere. Hit the road you jackass…
I agree…enough already. Everything that can be said about a tall, skinny country girl who couldn’t carry a tune with a bucket has already been said. She is a songwriter not a singer. She has been alleged to be with several top stars. She had no relationship with Taylor Lautner…they did “Valentine’s Day” together. The photos of them together were from the film. No relationship with John Mayer either…just madeup dribble to keep this girl’s name in the paper. Taylor Swift has a loyal teenybopper following…she is an excellent writer of songs about teen angst and now everyone is wondering who the songs are about. They are about growing up without the experiences of what she is writing about. Her songs are intelligent and have captivating melodies but singing is not her forte. Her CMT performance last week was awful…did you not hear her go offkey not once but several times. She cannot sing live. In the studio they can cover it up but she just shouldn’t try to sing in public. I’m sorry and know her fans will be upset by this but just listen to her next time. And when they showed her at the piano from the back all you could see were bones. Does she have some sort of eating disorder?
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