Faith Takes King’s Throne
Faith Hill’s Cry sold 472,000 copies in its first week,
according to SoundScan, to bounce Elvis’ 30 #1 Hits from
Number One. Cry also got a head start on the fall diva
sweepstakes, beating releases by Shania Twain, Mariah Carey and
Whitney Houston into stores and perhaps avoiding the pitfall of
shared sales among that cluster of heavy-hitting female vocalists
who timed their new albums closer to the holidays.
In addition to 30 #1 Hits (which fell to Number Three
with sales of 143,000), Faith bested LL Cool J’s 10, which
didn’t repeat the chart-topping success of his 2000 release,
G.O.A.T.. But 10 still mustered 154,000 sales for
a respectable Number Two showing.
In addition to Cool J, other Top Ten debuts included Gerald
Levert’s G Spot, which came in at Number Nine (with sales
of 75,000), and Dave Hollister’s Things in the Game Done
Changed, which squeezed in at Number Ten (71,000). Fleetwood
Mac’s Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (Number Twelve, 65,000
copies sold), Taproot’s Welcome (Number Seventeen, 51,000)
and Tracy Chapman’s Let It Rain (Number Twenty-five,
39,000) also debuted in the Top Fifty.
The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac underscores a
value-added desire on the part of consumers who have been tighter
with their purse strings this year. In addition to 30 #1
Hits and The Very Best, compilations by the Rolling
Stones (Forty Licks, Number Four), Sting (The Very
Best of Sting and the Police, Number Eighty-five), Aerosmith
(Ultimate Greatest Hits, Number 101), Chicago (Very
Best of Chicago, Number 104), Rod Stewart (Voice: The Very
Best of Rod Stewart Number 148) and Prince (The Very Best
of Prince, Number 151) have all followed the path of the
Beatles’ 1 (albeit, slightly less successfully) and
debuted in the Top 100 and remained mainstays on the chart. Only
INXS’s just-released The Best of INXS enjoyed a less
robust initial bow, debuting this week at Number 144 with sales of
8,000, perhaps due to the conspicuous absence of a “very” from the
title.
Next week is anybody’s guess. Faith’s big first week should
ensure a week two in the vicinity of 200,000 copies, a number that
seems reasonable for the Foo Fighters’ One by One to hit.
And while Santana’s last album, Supernatural, has sold
more than 14 million copies, it was driven by the smash hit,
“Smooth.” His latest, Shaman might need a viable single,
more than a nudge from its predecessor, to push it to the top.
This week’s Top Ten: Faith Hill’s Cry; LL Cool J’s
10; Elvis Presley’s 30 #1 Hits; Rolling Stones’
Forty Licks; Avril Lavigne’s Let Go; the Dixie
Chicks’ Home; Eminem’s The Eminem Show; Nelly’s
Nellyville; Gerald Levert’s The G Spot; and Dave
Hollister’s Things in the Game Done Changed.