
Week Ending Jan. 20, 2013. Albums: He Hit #1 A$AP
A$AP Rockyโs
debut album, Long.Live.A$AP, enters The Billboard 200 at #1. Itโs the first debut album to top the chart since 2 Chainzโs solo debut Based On A T.R.U. Story opened at #1 in August. 2 Chainz is featured on A$APโs hit single โFu**inโ Problems,โ along with Drake and Kendrick Lamar. (Drake also reached #1 with his first full-length album, Thank Me Later.)
Long.Live.A$AP sold 96K digital copies (out of 139K total), which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums.
โFu**inโ Problems,โ which has sold 854K digital copies, broke into the top 20 on last weekโs Hot 100. It is vying to become the third top 10 hit on Billboardโs flagship chart with โthe F wordโ in the title, following Cee Lo Greenโs โF**k You (Forget You)โ and P!nkโs โFu**inโ Perfect.โ Those songs both reached #2.
Kidz Bop Kidsโ
Kidz Bop 23 debuts at #2. Itโs the 16th installment in this long-running franchise to reach the top 10. That makes it one of the most successful franchises in music history. The leader is the Now franchise, which has spawned 49 top 10 albums (all 44 regular installments plus two Christmas albums, two country albums and a #1โs collection). The Glee franchise has spawned 14 top 10 albums and EPs. The Grammy Nominees franchise has spawned 11 top 10 albums (with a 12th due next week. See Coming Attractions).
Kidz Bop 23 is the fifth volume in this series to reach #2 (none as yet have hit #1).
The Pitch Perfect soundtrack jumps from #5 to #3. This puts Pitch Perfect at #1 on the Top Soundtracks chart, ending Les Miserablesโ four-week run on top. Pitch Perfect was a sleeper hit movie. It grossed a little less than $65 million in its theatrical run, a mark that Les Miz topped in its opening weekend.
Taylor Swiftโs Red holds at #4 for the second week. The album is #1 on Top Country Albums for the 13th week. Itโs the first album by a female solo artist to spend its first 13 weeks at #1 on the country chart since LeAnn Rimesโ Blue was #1 for its first 16 weeks in 1996. (If youโre wondering about Swiftโs Fearless, it was #1 for its first 12 weeks, but then was bounced for a week by Dierks Bentleyโs Feel That Fire.) Swift's streak will end here, at least for now, as Gary Allan's Set You Free will debut at #1 next week.
Les Miz
drops from #3 to #6 in its fifth week. This is its fourth week in the top 10. Thatโs the longest run in the top 10 for the soundtrack from a movie that was based on a Broadway show since Mamma Mia! logged 10 weeks in the top 10 in the summer of 2008.
Les Miz jumps to #1 on The Official U.K. chart this week, two weeks after reaching #1 in the U.S. Itโs the first movie soundtrack to reach #1 in both countries since Titanic in 1998. Itโs the first soundtrack to a movie that was based on a stage musical to reach #1 in both countries since Grease in 1978. That soundtrack, featuring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, held the top spot in the U.S. for 12 weeks and in the U.K. for 13 weeks.
Five other soundtracks to movies that were based on stage musicals have hit #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. Remarkably, four of the musicals were written by the same teamโRodgers & Hammerstein (Oklahoma!, The King And I, South Pacific and The Sound Of Music). The fifth is West Side Story, which was co-written by Leonard Bernstein and a young Stephen Sondheim.
Phillip Phillipsโ
The World From The Side Of The Moon rebounds from #14 to #8. This is its seventh week in the top 10. Itโs the first debut album by an American Idol winner to log seven or more weeks in the top 10 since Carrie UnderwoodโsSome Hearts spent 30 weeks in the top 10 from 2005 to 2007.
Phillipsโ smash single โHomeโ this week surpasses Underwoodโs โBefore He Cheatsโ in total digital sales. โHomeโ is now second only to Kelly Clarksonโs โStronger (What Doesn't Kill You)โ as the best-selling song by any American Idol contestant. โStrongerโ has sold 4,068,000 copies. โHomeโ is up to 3,728,000. โBefore He Cheatsโ has sold 3,687,000.
Mumford & Sonsโ Babel rebounds from #11 to #9 in its 17th week. The groupโs Sigh No More advances from #39 to #38. The group is the only act with two albums in this weekโs top 40.
โThrift Shopโ by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz is #1 on Hot Digital Songs for the second week (341K). It holds off โSuit & Tieโ by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z, which debuts at #2 (315K). Will โThrift Shopโ move up to #1 on the Hot 100, or can Bruno Marsโ โLocked Out Of Heavenโ eek out a seventh week on top? Youโll find out later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.
Hereโs the low-down on this weekโs top 10 albums.
The Top Five: A$AP Rockyโs Long.Live.A$AP debuts at #1 (139K). Itโs his first top 10 album... Kidz Bop Kidsโ Kidz Bop 23 debuts at #2 (78K)โฆThe Pitch Perfect soundtrack jumps from #5 to #3 in its 13th chart week (45K). This is its fourth week in the top 10โฆTaylor Swiftโs Red holds at #4 for the second week in its 13th week (41K). It has ranked in the top five the entire timeโฆ Bruno Marsโ Unorthodox Jukebox rebounds from #6 to #5 in its sixth week (39K). It has ranked in the top 10 the entire time.
The Second Five: The Les Miserables soundtrack drops from #3 to #6 in its fifth week (39K). This is its fourth week in the top 10โฆThe Lumineersโ The Lumineers jumps from #8 to #7 in its 42nd week (38K). This is its fourth week in the top 10โฆ Phillip Phillipsโ The World From The Side Of The Moon rebounds from #14 to #8 in its ninth week (25K). This is its seventh week in the top 10โฆMumford & Sonsโ Babel rebounds from #11 to #9 in its 17th week (25K). This is its 11th week in the top 10โฆ One Directionโs Take Me Home holds at #10 for the second week in its 10th week (23K).
Chris Tomlinโs
Burning Lights drops from #1 to #22. Itโs the first album to tumble from #1 out of the top 10 since Adam LambertโsTrespassing fell from #1 to #12 in May. Itโs the biggest fall for a non-holiday album since Mac MillerโsBlue Slide Park slid from #1 to #24 in November 2011.
Three other albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Hollywood Undeadโs Notes From The Underground drops from #2 to #31. Black Veil Bridesโ Wretched And Divine: The Story Of The Wild Ones drops from #7 to #41โฆDropkick Murphysโ Signed & Sealed In Blood drops from #9 to #44.
The Tenorsโ
Lead With Your Heart debuts at #21. This is the highest-charting album to date for the group, which was formerly known as the Canadian TenorsโฆYo La Tengoโs 13th studio album Fade debuts at #26โฆKatie ArmigerโsFall Into Me debuts at #32.
The Civil Warsโ Unplugged On VH1 debuts at #34. Itโs the highest-charting Unplugged album in a little more than six years, since Kornโs MTV Unplugged hit #9 in March 2007. Most of the Unplugged albums that have made the chart over the years have had MTV in their title. This is the first to identify sister channel VH1 since The Corrsโ 2002 album VH-1 Presents The Corrs: Live In Dublin. This is The Civil Warsโ second top 40 album: Barton Hallow reached #10.
Bruno Marsโ Doo-Wops & Hooligans jumps from #65 to #59 in its 118th week. Itโs #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the third straight weekโฆKid Rockโs 1999 album Devil Without A Cause re-enters the chart at #60. If it had sold 50 additional copies, it would have been the weekโs #1 catalog title.
Adeleโs Live At Royal Albert Hall returns to the #1 spot on Top Music Videos for the first time since May. This is its 25th week on top. This extends its record for the longest-running #1 music video by a female artist.
Mama was #1 at the box-office over the weekend, dislodging Zero Dark Thirty, which dips to #2. Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain stars in both movies.
Coming Attractions: Gary Allan's Set You Free is expected to debut at #1 next week, with sales in the 80K range. 2013 Grammy Nominees will debut around #6, with sales in the 35K range. Randy Houser'sHow Country Feels will open around #10, with sales in the 24K range. Also due: the CD version of 12-12-12 The Concert For Sandy Relief (about 17K) plus Aaron NevilleโsMy True Story and TraptโsReborn.