Singer’s Speak Now notches lowest #1 figures in SoundScan era. By Gil Kaufman Taylor Swift Photo: Steve Granitz/ WireImage Taylor Swift has smashed a host of records in her short career, but next week the 21-year-old, newly single star will notch another one that probably won’t land in her bio. In a dismally slow week on the Billboard albums chart, Swift’s Speak Now held on to the #1 spot again while posting the lowest totals ever for a #1 album in the SoundScan era. According to SoundScan, the disc moved 52,000 copies, which helped vault it over the 3 million mark, but also broke the dubious record set by the soundtrack to the movie “Dreamgirls” in January 2007, which had the previous #1 low at 66,000. Only one new title moved into the top 10, the soundtrack to Gwyneth Paltrow’s “Country Strong,” which came in at #10 on sales of 28,000 after climbing up from the #149 slot in its first week. The rest of the top 10 suffered double-digit percentage losses, including: Nicki Minaj , Pink Friday (#2, 39,000); Bruno Mars , Doo-Wops & Hooligans (#3, 38,000); “Tron Legacy” soundtrack (#4, 34,000); Eminem , Recovery (#5, 33,000); Rihanna , Loud (#6, 33,000); Kanye West , My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (#7, 33,000); Mumford & Sons , Sigh No More (#8, 31,000); and Jason Aldean , My Kinda Party (#9, 29,000). The Black Keys got a major bump before their “Saturday Night Live” appearance , moving up 12 spots to #14 with Brothers (25,000), which pushed the band over the 500,000 mark. Meanwhile, Jamie Foxx ‘s latest, Best Night of My Life, slid a bit more, dropping 5 spots to #16 on sales of 23,000. “Country Strong” fared much better on the iTunes album charts, coming in at #1, followed by the Black Keys, “Tron,” Mumford & Sons, West, Mars, Swift, Rihanna, a second “Country Strong” soundtrack compilation and Eminem. The iTunes singles chart was topped by Mars’ “Grenade,” followed by Katy Perry ‘s “Firework,” Enrique Iglesias ‘ “Tonight,” the Black Eyed Peas ‘ “The Time (Dirty Bit)” and Wiz Khalifa ‘s “Black and Yellow.” Though iTunes doesn’t provide sales figures, it was also a good week for Ke$ha, who came in at #6 with “We R Who We R,” followed by Lil Wayne ‘s “6 Foot 7 Foot,” Pink ‘s “Raise Your Glass,” Rihanna’s “What’s My Name” and Waka Flocka Flame ‘s “No Hands.” Things will probably stay mostly steady again next week with just a few new releases, including the latest from ornate rockers the Decemberists and albums by Cake , Cage the Elephant , James Blunt and the Script . Related Artists Taylor Swift
See the rest here:
Taylor Swift Tops Billboard Again In Slow Sales Week
