Over The Counter: Album Sales Spike Again

Best-yet Nielsen SoundScan weeks for a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, two country artists and a resident diva help yield another growth week for music stores. Although album volume is down 6.5% from the prior frame, which yielded last issue's chart fireworks, the numbers do beat album sales of the same week in 2002 for a fourth consecutive time.

Whereas year-to-date album sales trailed last year's by 8.5% in the Sept. 20 issue of Billboard, the four-week win streak has closed the gap to 7.1%.

Now, you might scratch your chin and scoff, "Well, isn't that just because of all the big albums coming out for the holiday season?" To which I would retort, "Yeah, Genius. But, we had big superstar releases during the last four months of 2002, too, and none of those blockbusters were able to close the gap.

In fact, the deficit from 2001 widened during fourth-quarter 2002, from 10.5% two weeks before Thanksgiving to 10.7% by year's end, despite blockbusters from Shania Twain, Jay-Z and the soundtrack from the Eminem movie "8 Mile."

This issue's honor roll for best career Nielsen SoundScan weeks comprises Sting (No. 3, 195,000 copies, beating "Ten Summoner's Tales" with 149,000 in 1993), Martina McBride (No. 7, 123,000, over 102,000 for "Greatest Hits" in 2001), Bette Midler (No. 14 at 71,000; topping 64,000 for "Bette of Roses" during Christmas week of 1995), Gary Allen (No. 17, 57,500, over 31,000 for "Alright Guy" in 2001) and rock band Ill Niño (No. 37, 28,000, besting 4,500, last year's high for "Revolution/Revolucion").

Big openers by an emerging singer/songwriter and TV's latest contribution to pop's annals also stir the pot.

The 191,500 units that place Dido's "Life for Rent" at No. 4 is not her best week. Her first album sold a few hundred more during Christmas week of 2001 (192,000). But, to put her new album's opener in proper perspective, consider that her freshman album sold about 2,000 units when it first hit stores in June 1999.

Yet, as impressive as all the above-mentioned fast starts are, an MTV vehicle spawns The Billboard 200's Hot Shot Debut. Bad Boy's Da Band, assembled on the P. Diddy series "Making the Band 2," roars in at No. 2 on 204,000 copies. There's a 13.6% gap between its "Too Hot for T.V." and the top spot, retained by OutKast (235,000, down 54%).

Da Band handsomely exceeds the start by its predecessor, O-Town, which was assembled in 2000 when the original "Making the Band" aired on ABC. O-Town started at No. 5 with a first-week take of 144,500—29% less than Da Band's opener.



more coals: The chart fires will stay warm next issue, thanks to the Oct. 7 slate that brought the new Ludacris album and a new Elvis Presley compilation to market. Retail chains' first-day numbers make the former a lock to exceed 400,000 copies in the first week, with a chance to do as much as 435,000.

Presley's "2nd to None" will be a distant second to last year's "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits," as that album had both a more appealing song lineup and more advertising dollars behind its launch. Still, "2nd" looks good for a No. 2 start, with chart watchers estimating it will begin in the range of 185,000-200,000.

Meanwhile, crunchy rock band Sevendust seems on course for its best-ever Nielsen SoundScan week, estimated in the range of 75,000 or more. Its previous two albums, which came in 1999 and 2001, each had first weeks just above 60,000.

"American Idol" darling Clay Aiken's first album hits stores Oct. 14. It will ship at least 1.2 million.



blues and green: If you remember the impact that the PBS miniseries "Ken Burns' Jazz" had on Top Jazz Albums in 2001, you won't be surprised to learn that this fall's "Martin Scorsese Presents the Best of the Blues" has begun to dominate Top Blues Albums.

Show-related compilations from "The Blues" lock down 11 of 15 slots on this week's blues chart, which appears weekly on billboard.com, every other week in the magazine.

A single-disc, multi-act sampler,

"Martin Scorsese Presents the Best of the Blues" sees a 35.5% gain over prior-week sales, good for a 121-92 romp on The Billboard 200 and an 8-6 move on Top Soundtracks while tightening its grip at No. 1 on Top Blues Albums.

A longer compilation bullets 4-2 on the blues list with a 58% spike that dents the soundtracks chart at No. 22.

The volume of units for titles on Top Blues Albums is up 40% over the previous week.



matinee: The DVD debut of "The Lion King" (see story, page 5) makes waves on Top Pop Catalog. The soundtrack has been enhanced with two additional tracks, and the album's sales soar from practically nothing to 5,000 copies.

That rally causes it to re-enter the catalog chart at No. 25 and to make its first appearance on Top Soundtracks. Billboard did not publish the soundtracks chart in 1994, when "The Lion King" began a 10-week reign over The Billboard 200.

And, is it coincidence that "School of Rock" starring Jack Black rules the box-office chart in the same week that Black's comedic recording act, Tenacious D, re-enters the catalog list at No. 40 on a 38% increase? We think not. The film's album enters Top Soundtracks at No. 10 and The Billboard 200 at No. 166 (7,000 copies).



neat feats: With the recent OutKast and Dido sets alone accounting for more than 426,000 copies, Arista leads all labels in album market share for the tracking week that ended Oct. 4 with a 5.97% share of overall albums and a 7.85% chunk of current titles. It is the first time Arista has had the top current share since the week ended March 12, 2000, when Santana's "Supernatural" was No. 1 with 343,000 and Black Rob started at No. 3 with 178,000 . . . Grupo Montez de Durango, which peaked at No. 43 with an earlier title during a 20-week stay on Top Latin Albums, bows at No. 2, second only to veteran star Luis Miguel, who debuts on top with his fifth No. 1 on that chart. By entering The Billboard 200 at No. 88, Grupo Montez bypasses Top Heatseekers. Miguel starts at No. 43 on the big chart.