On the Charts: Lady Antebellum Outsells “Rebirth,” Grammy Stars
The Big News: Lil Wayne‘s Rebirth and the sales renaissance for this year’s Grammy winners couldn’t top Lady Antebellum, who held on to Number One for a second straight week on the Billboard Top 200. Need You Now sold an additional 209,000 copies, pushing its two-week total to 690,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. However, all eyes were on RS cover star Weezy: After his Tha Carter III sold over a million copies in its debut week in 2008, the oft-delayed and prematurely leaked Rebirth moved a disappointing 176,000 units in its first week, good enough for Number Two but way off the pace of its platinum predecessor. Nick Jonas and the Administration’s Who I Am debuted at Number Three with 82,000 copies.
Nearly every artist that attended the Grammys experienced a significant sales boost, but none more so than Pink, who parlayed her acrobatic performance into a 234 percent increase in sales as Funhouse surged from Number 59 to 15. Sales of Beyoncé’s I Am… Sasha Fierce catapulted her from Number 34 to 14 and Taylor Swift’s Album of the Year Fearless rode a 57 percent sales gain to Number Seven. Oddly, Lady Gaga’s The Fame had the smallest percentage gain of all the Grammy nominees, but perhaps that’s because her sales were consistently strong prior to music’s biggest night. The Fame landed at Number Four with another 79,000 copies. With only a couple hours worth of post-Super Bowl sales, the Who’s Greatest Hits jumped from 140 to 78 thanks to a 102 percent sales increase. Expect even better numbers in seven days when the band has a full week of post-Super Sunday sales behind them.
Debuts: One more debut managed to penetrate the Grammy afterparty at the top of the charts — Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe II sold 49,000 to enter at Number Eight. After that, the next highest charting debut was Midlake’s Courage of Others at 90.
Last Week’s Heroes: Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream was finally booted from the Top Five after 11 weeks on the charts, dropping down to Number Nine. The Hope for Haiti Now compilation experienced a massive dip from Number Two to 19 this week following an 80 percent sales, or donation, drop. And the Grammys’ Michael Jackson tribute didn’t seem to rub off on sales as This Is It fell from Number Six to 13. Next week, we’ll find out if Sade’s Soldier of Love, their first album in 10 years, has what it takes to unseat Lady Antebellum.