Britney Spears Debuts On Top; 'N Sync At No. 2
Baby One More Time, the debut by teen pop sensation Britney Spears debuts at No. 1 on the album chart this week, knocking off three-week chart-topper DMX's Flesh Of My Flesh Blood Of My Blood, with sales of more than
120,500 copies.
The rise of Spears mirrors the teen-pop wave of a decade ago. In 1988 and 1989, artists such as Tiffany, New Kids On The Block, and Debbie Gibson all scored with No. 1 albums. In fact, Spears's chart-topping debut comes exactly 11 years and one week to the day from when Tiffany went from the shopping malls to the summit of the chart with her self-titled debut.
Making Spears's surprise debut at No. 1 that much sweeter is the fact that she debuted over a trio of highly touted releases by established artists. Sugar Ray's third effort, 14:59 bows at No. 19 with approximately half the sales of Spears's album. By Your Side, the Black Crowes' debut for Columbia through its longtime home of American Recordings, checks in at No. 26, while It's A Beautiful Thing, the latest from jailed rapper Keith Murray (LAUNCH, 8/11/98), enters at No. 39.
Britney Scores Second Best SoundScan Week
With an opening week of
1.3 million units, Britney Spears' album, "Oops! ... I Did It Again," scored the second-largest seven-day sales totals in SoundScan history. "Oops" trails only 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached," which sold 2.4 million units during its first week. The album is set to debut tomorrow (May 25) at No. 1 on The Billboard 200.
With Backstreet Boys' "Millennium" in third, having sold 1.13 million units in its first week a year ago, Jive Records now owns the three largest sales weeks since Billboard adopted SoundScan data in 1991.
Spears' debut held Pearl Jam's "Binaural" (Epic) at a No. 2 premiere, on the strength of 226,000 copies sold. Big Tymers' "I Got That Work" (Universal) rolls in at No. 3, having sold 187,000 units and knocking "No String Attached" to No. 4. Whitney Houston's Arista "Greatest Hits" collection opens at No. 5, with 158,000 copies sold. In another notable debut, Phish's "Farmhouse" (Elektra) opens at No. 12, the second-highest album chart placement ever for the Vermont jam band.
Oops! ... She Did It Again: Britney Spears Tops Albums Chart
Oops! ... she did it yet again. The same thing keeps happening to pop princess Britney Spears — whenever she releases an album, it debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Spears' Britney sold more than
745,000 copies its first week in stores, garnering her the top slot on next week's chart, as well as the honor of having the second biggest debut of the year — according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (November 14). Britney is, however, the year's most successful debut by a female or females, trumping Destiny's Child's Survivor (663,000 copies in its first week) and Janet Jackson's All for You (605,000).
Spears now holds the #1 and #2 slots for the biggest first-week sales by a female artist, with last year's Oops! ... I Did It Again, which moved 1.3 million units its first week, and Britney, respectively. Her debut LP, ... Baby One More Time, also arrived atop all others when it was released in early 1999.
The pop singer crushed the rest of the chart competition, outselling this week's #2 album, the debut of Pink Floyd's Echoes - The Best of Pink Floyd, by more than 500,000.
Britney In Her 'Zone' Atop Billboard 200
The fourth album from Britney Spears gives the media darling her fourth No. 1 debut on The Billboard 200. "In the Zone" sells
609,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, leading three albums into the top-10. An impressive first week for the pop superstar.
Britney's 'Circus' Debuts Atop Album Chart
As expected, Britney Spears' "Circus" makes a big bow at the top of The Billboard 200, becoming her fifth No. 1. The Jive set moved
505,000 copies in the United States, making Spears the only act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have four albums debut with 500,000 or more.
Since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, only four acts -- aside from Spears -- have notched three 500,000-starts: 2Pac, 50 Cent, Garth Brooks and Jay-Z.
Previously, her second, third and fourth sets all racked up half-million weeks: 2000's "Oops! I Did It Again" started with 1.3 million, 2001's "Britney" debuted with 746,000 and 2003's "In the Zone" entered the chart with 609,000. Among female artists, only four have earned more No. 1 albums.
On the Billboard Hot 100 to be released tomorrow, Spears scores her first top 10 debut as the set's title cut debuts at No. 3. The song, which she performed live on ABC's "Good Morning America" the day "Circus" hit retail, opens at No. 1 on Hot Digital Songs with 212,000 downloads. With her former No. 1 single "Womanizer" at No. 10 on the Hot 100, Spears places two tracks simultaneously in that chart's top 10 for the first time in her career.
HONORABLE MENTION
Eagles Fly Past Britney To Debut At No. 1
As reported last night, this marks the first time Billboard has allowed exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on its charts.
Previously, titles that were not generally available at retail were not eligible to appear on The Billboard 200, but were entitled to chart on Billboard's Top Comprehensive Albums, which includes catalog titles and proprietary albums from retailers willing to report those sales.
Selling
290,000 copies, Britney Spears' "Blackout" (Jive) enters at No. 2. Her first album in four years is also her first studio effort to not top the chart: 2003's "In The Zone," 2001's "Britney," 2000's "Oops!... I Did It Again" and 1999's "... Baby One More Time" all started at No. 1. However, Spears becomes the only woman whose first five studio albums have debuted in the top two slots on the chart.
