Norah Jones' five Grammy nominations continue to help lift her Come Away With Me above all other albums on the Billboard albums chart. With 47 weeks of good words behind it, Jones' debut LP sold more than 114,000 copies last week, up 6,000 copies from the week before, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (January 22). The new tally puts Come Away With Me above the 3 million mark in total sales. Fellow Grammy nominees Avril Lavigne and the Dixie Chicks each increased weekly sales of their respective current albums, Let Go and Home, to take the #2 and #3 slots. The Canadian pop star arrives from a previously held #3 spot, with a sizable boost of more than 21,000 copies, while the Chicks' Home increased its seven-day draw by more than 7,000 copies.
In its first week in stores, the soundtrack to the Golden Globe-gobbling "Chicago," featuring songs from the movie sung by actors Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger, debuted at #4 with more than 83,000 copies sold. Ja Rule's The Last Temptation, sparked by the emergence of its second single "Mesmerize," will re-enter the top 10 at #10, with more than 52,000 in sales. It marks the first time the album placed in the top 10 since the LP debuted at #4 when it was released in late November.
The remainder of the top 10 finds no new entries or exits, as Jennifer Lopez's This Is Me Then drops three spots to #5 (78,000); the "8 Mile" soundtrack also drops a notch to #6 (68,000); Missy Elliott's Under Construction moves up a place to #7 (57,000); Aaliyah's I Care 4 U drops a spot down to #8 (56,000); and Christina Aguilera takes a step ahead to #9 with Stripped (54,000).
Good Charlotte lead the pack of bands that felt an impact from being featured on MTV's Spankin' New Bands week. The group's second album, The Young and the Hopeless, will jump from #25 to #12, while its weekly sales increased by nearly 15,000 copies to reach a 49,000-copy pull. Simple Plan are enjoying the 15-spot leap that will place No Pads, No Helmets Just Balls at #44, and the 6,000-copy bump that made it possible. Further down, the Used's self-titled debut will move up 33 spots to #63, the Donnas' Spend the Night will sail 50 spots higher to #67 and New Found Glory's Sticks & Stones will ascend 20 places to #102.
Using more conventional promotional tactics, Kid Rock's Cocky has been on a major upswing thanks to the crossover success of its fourth single, "Picture," an acoustic country duet. While the rap-rocker's rock audience hasn't responded tremendously to previous hybrid singles "Forever" and "You Never Met a Motherf---er Quite Like Me," "Picture," with Sheryl Crow on the album cut and Allison Moorer on the single version (due to the inability of Rock's label to secure single rights to the tune from Crow's label), has re-introduced the pimp of the nation to adult contemporary formats, where his "Only God Knows Why" once had a home, and established his place on country radio. As such, Cocky, released in November 2001, has moved into the top 20 for the first time in over a year. It will stand at #15, up from #24, with a 14,000-copy weekly increase.
Following the death of Maurice Gibb on January 12 (see "Maurice Gibb Of The Bee Gees Dead At 53" ), the Bee Gees' 2001 two-disc retrospective, Their Greatest Hits: The Record, re-entered the top 200 at #55 with more than 17,000 in sales, nearly six times its previous weekly total.
All the hype generated from his beef with Eminem didn't translate into record sales for rapper Benzino. His second solo album, Redemption, will debut on the chart at #65, with more than 14,000 in sales. |
