Outkast - OutKast, which bounces back to No. 1 for a sixth chart-leading - News
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2004-01-24 |
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OutKast, which bounces back to No. 1 for a sixth chart-leading |
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By Geoff Mayfield
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - In a truly odd sales week, it's hard to say which news is more shocking: That not even a single album sells 100,000, or that in a week when the top 10 rings 10.2% less than the one from the comparative 2003 stanza, album volume still manages to be ahead of that from the same week of last year.
Talk about momentum. Even in a week when the top of the Billboard 200 looks puny, the music business ends up in the win column, the fourth week in a row that album sales beat those from the same stanza of the previous year.
Taking advantage of the soft top 10 is OutKast, which bounces back to No. 1 for a sixth chart-leading week despite a 4% decline (3-1, 97,500 copies).
How long has it been since a No. 1 sold less than 100,000? Well, to set the stage: Nancy Kerrigan (news) was skating against arch rival Tonya Harding (news) at the Winter Olympics (news - web sites) in Lillehammer, Norway; Los Angeles was digging out from the Northridge earthquake; Derek Jeter had not yet played his first game for the Yankees; and Mariah Carey (news) was still married to then-Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola. For the week of March, 12, 1994, Carey's "Music Box" notched its eighth and final week at No. 1 with a sum shy of 92,000 copies.
Since 1992, there has been only one other week when a No. 1 fell shy of 100,000: In 1993, the soundtrack to Whitney Houston (news)'s "The Bodyguard" logged its 20th and final week at No. 1, with just 91,000 sold. In June 1991 -- during the second, third and fourth weeks that the Billboard 200 used Nielsen SoundScan data and the tracking service was still ramping up its store sample -- the No. 1 title sold less than 90,000 (one week by R.E.M (news - web sites).'s "Out of Time" and two by Paula Abdul (news)'s "Spellbound").
To borrow a pet phrase from ESPN Radio's Tony Kornheiser, "That's it. That's the list," meaning OutKast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" finds itself in very rare company.
WEIRD MATH
With the top of the Billboard 200 looking so anemic, one might speculate that catalog titles were the factor that led to this unusual same-week victory. That would be wrong, which leads us to two more statistical aberrations.
Although total sales of the Billboard 200's top 50 titles are down 7.2% from those for the week of Feb. 1, 2003, the volume rung by overall current albums this time is 5.9% ahead of what current albums sold a year ago.
Conversely, while each of the 50 titles on this week's Top Pop Catalog list sells more than the same-ranked album did during the comparative 2003 week, overall catalog sales are up by only 1.6%.
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
Sure, Britney Spears (news)' 55-hour marriage made her the punch line of many a joke. Yes, her public image of late has rightfully been subjected to much scrutiny.
Guess what. The record buying public seems unfazed, as her "In the Zone" has the largest increase over prior-week sales of any album in the top 30.
Up by an 11.5% gain, it rises 16-11 (52,000 copies). This, in fact, is the album's first increase since Christmas week.
Meanwhile, the Greatest Gainer on both the big chart and Top Country Albums is the newer, slimmed-down version of Alan Jackson (news)'s "Greatest Hits Volume II," which jumps 40 places on the former (103-63) wh | | |
