Hilary Tops Mary J.
It’s not often that an album misses Number One in its first week, only to come back the second and top the charts, but Hilary Duff’s Metamorphosis did just that. The teen multi-media star sold 131,000 copies of her debut album, according to SoundScan, to best last week’s chart-topper, Mary J. Blige’s Love and Life, which sold 108,000 at Number Two. Duff continues to get mileage out of her “So Yesterday” single, which in addition to pumping Metamorphosis continues to sell more than 7,000 copies a week, bested only by singles from dueling American Idols Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard.
This week’s highest debut came from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Take Them On, On Their Own, which many retailers have been discounting in hopes of breaking the band to a wider audience. The album sold a respectable 21,000 copies at Number Forty-seven. Fellow buzz band (and Jesus and Mary Chain acolytes) the Raveonettes fared less well despite a similar amount of press and a similarly enticing price tag. The Danish duo sold 9,000 copies of Chain Gang of Love at Number 123.
Beyond that, a handful of albums enjoyed sales spikes over the holiday weekend, some likely enjoying a continued boost from the MTV Video Music Awards. Beyonce’s Dangerously in Love hopped up to Number Four with a 9,000 copy sales increase to 87,000 and Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head climbed up to Number Eight with sales of 65,000. Evanescence’s Fallen (Number Five, 82,000), and Chingy’s Jackpot (Number Seven, 68,000) also enjoyed sales increases.
With sales towards the top of the chart in the low six figures this week, next week’s chart could offer some new competition in the form of John Mayer’s Heavier Things, which arrived in record stores yesterday. And next week’s chart will also reflect the first sales week since the death of Warren Zevon. His final album, The Wind, continues to sell well. In its second week, the album sold 23,000 copies at Number Forty, bringing its cumulative sales to 71,000, exactly double the to-date tally of his previous record.
This week’s Top Ten: Hilary Duff’s Metamorphosis; Mary J. Blige’s Love and Life; Beyonce’s Dangerously in Love; Alan Jackson’s Greatest Hits Volume 2; Evanescence’s Fallen; the Neptunes’ The Neptunes Present . . . Clones; Chingy’s Jackpot; Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head; the Bad Boys II soundtrack; and 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’.