Green Day Back on Top of the Chart
In a slow post-holiday week for sales, Green Day reclaimed the Number One spot on the chart this week, selling 100,000 copies of their self-proclaimed punk-rock opera American Idiot, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This is an impressive three months after the album’s September debut at the top spot — though with smaller figures: Idiot originally moved 267,000 copies.
Green Day bumped Eminem’s Encore to Number Two (100,000), while Lil Jon’s Crunk Juice held onto its Top Ten comeback for its second week at Number Three (80,000). Kanye West R&B protege John Legend’s debut, Get Lifted, moved up three spots in its second week to Number Four (75,000), while Atlanta rapper Ludacris’ The Red Light District held onto Five (74,000).
With no major releases last week, the rest of the Top Ten is a reshuffling of the Christmas-shopping favorites — but at far lower sales numbers. Destiny’s Child’s Destiny Fulfilled moved up four spots to Number Six, with 70,000 copies sold, and country star Shania Twain’s blockbuster Greatest Hits jumps five places back into the Top Ten to Seven (69,000).
Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s mash-up, Collision Course, dropped four to Number Eight (68,000); and Usher’s unstoppable Confessions is still on the charts, down three to Number Nine (67,000). Meanwhile, American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson’s sophomore effort, Breakaway, climbed three spots to crack the Top Ten again (Ten, 67,000). But Tupac’s latest posthumous release, chart-topper Loyal to the Game, slipped six places back into the teens (Fourteen, 55,000).
The disappointment this week is Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s first posthumous release, Osirus, a record of new material recorded in the rapper’s last months and released by his mother Cherry Jones’ label. No doubt due to limited promotion and distribution, the album did not chart.
This week’s Top Ten: Green Day’s American Idiot; Eminem’s Encore; Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz’ Crunk Juice; John Legend’s Get Lifted; Ludacris’ The Red Light District; Destiny’s Child’s Destiny Fulfilled; Shania Twain’s Greatest Hits; Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s Collision Course; Usher’s Confessions; Kelly Clarkson’s Breakaway.