Mariah Carey’s “Butterfly” Tops the Charts
Let the fall buying season begin. With four albums entering the Top
10 and eight new albums in the Top 20, music stores are flooded
with red-hot records. That should come as no surprise. Rife with
superstar releases, the period from late September to the end of
the year has traditionally been the music industry’s strongest
season for sales.
This year, Mariah Carey kicks off the fourth quarter
sweepstakes. To nobody’s surprise, her Butterfly, debuts
at No. 1, selling 235,000 copies during the week ending September
21, according to SoundScan. The week’s other Top 10 debuts go to
rapper Busta Rhymes’ When Disaster Strikes (which came in
at No. 3) and Christian rockers Jars of Clay’s Much Afraid
(No. 7). Aqua’s Aquarium moves up to No. 10 from No.
15.
From the top, it’s Butterfly, followed by LeAnn Rimes’ You Light Up My Life-Inspirational Songs (which sold
205,000 copies); When Disaster Strikes (165,000); Master
P’s Ghetto D (124,000); Puff Daddy’s No Way Out
(119,000); Fleetwood Mac’s The Dance (103,000); Much
Afraid (100,000); Jewel’s Pieces of You (91,000);
Trisha Yearwood’s (Songbook) A Collection of Hits (90,000), and Aquarium (90,000).
The other acts to debut in the Top 20 are rapper Mack 10 (No.
13), R&B singer Usher (No. 14), the R& B-oriented
soundtrack to Soulfood (No. 16), country duo Brooks &
Dunn (No. 17), and comedian Adam Sandler (No. 18).
Retailers and labels are thrilled with the influx of hit
records. The only downside is that, in order to make room for the
new, several older acts are paying the price on the sales chart.
Rock acts are taking some of the hardest hits. Oasis’ Be Here
Now drops from No. 2 to No. 26 in just four weeks’ time.
Fellow English rockers Radiohead watch their critically acclaimed
OK Computer fall from No. 91 to No. 142 — a whopping 51
spots — in just seven days. Among the week’s other casualties: the
Foo Fighters’ The Colour & the Shape (No. 48 to No.
75); Meredith Brooks’ Blurring the Edges (No. 52 to No.
113), and the Verve Pipe’s Villains (No. 74 to No. 152).
After 28 weeks on the Top 200, U2’s Pop falls off the
chart altogether.