50 Still Attacking Chart
50 Cent‘s The Massacre sold another 329,000 copies this week to continue its solid grip on the top spot, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Queens hip-hop superstar has now totaled 2.6 million copies in just one month. In second place is the eighteenth installment of the blockbuster hits series Now That’s What I Call Music!, which moved 269,000 units.
The biggest debut this week comes from Tijuana-born, San Diego-raised R&B artist Frankie J, whose second solo record, One, sold 130,000 copies to take Number Three. This is a huge leap for the crooner, whose solo debut, 2003’s What’s a Man to Do?, came in at Fifty-three, with 20,000 copies sold. The other big opening weeks also belong to Californians: Hard rockers Queens of the Stone Age’s fourth album, Lullabies to Paralyze, hit the chart at Number Five (97,000) and pop rockers Lifehouse’s self-titled third album moved 63,000 units to take Number Ten.
As Jack Johnson’s third album, In Between Dreams, Kelly Clarkson’s sophomore CD, Breakaway, and the Killers’ debut, Hot Fuss, held fast to the Top Ten (at Numbers Six, Seven and Eight, respectively), Gwen Stefani’s solo debut, Love, Angel, Music, Baby, made an unexpected comeback after four months in stores, selling 68,000 to jump eight spots to Number Nine.
Also of note: Nashville star Trace Adkins’ sixth album, Songs About Me, came in at Eleven (63,000), while the solo debut from former boy band member (remember Dream Street?) and WB star Jesse McCartney, Beautiful Soul, climbed fifteen spots in its second week to break the Top Twenty (Fifteen, 57,000). Missy Elliott protege Tweet’s second album, It’s Me Again, sold 55,000 copies to open at Number Seventeen — a considerably more low-key debut than her first record, 2002’s Southern Hummingbird, which moved more than three times as many copies in its first week.
Losing her mojo this week was Jennifer Lopez. The pop diva’s fourth studio album, Rebirth, has already fizzled out of the Top Ten in its fourth week, dropping five spots to Number Twelve (60,000). And The Documentary, the debut from the Game, finally dropped from sight, down nine spots to Number Fourteen (58,000). Ditto hot R&B newcomer John Legend, whose debut Get Lifted took a more dramatic plunge after three months in stores, from Nine to Twenty-one (48,000).
Much-hyped returns that did not make chart waves this week came from Moby and Billy Idol. The electronic crossover artist’s double-disc Hotel sold only 37,000 copies to debut at Number Twenty-eight, and the Eighties rocker’s first album in twelve years, Devil’s Playground, moved a mere 27,000 units to come in at Forty-Six.
Next week is genre-hopping master Beck’s chance to prove he can rack up the numbers along with the critical acclaim, as his eighth album, Guero, hits stores. And fans of Philly rapper Beanie Sigel, currently serving a one-year prison term on a federal gun charge, will have a shot at showing they haven’t forgotten him by picking up his third record, The B. Coming.
This week’s Top Ten: 50 Cent’s The Massacre; Now That’s What I Call Music! Volume 18; Frankie J’s One; Green Day’s American Idiot; Queens of the Stone Age’s Lullabies to Paralyze; Jack Johnson’s In Between Dreams; Kelly Clarkson’s Breakaway; the Killers’ Hot Fuss; Gwen Stefani’s Love, Angel, Music, Baby; Lifehouse’s Lifehouse.