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Susan Boyle's 'Gift' keeps on giving atop chart
Updated: 2010-12-16 07:50
(Agencies)
LOS ANGELES - Susan Boyle's "The Gift" racked up a fourth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the U.S. pop album chart Wednesday, while jailed rapper T.I.'s streak of chart-topping new releases came to an abrupt end.
Boyle sold 243,000 units of "The Gift" during the week ended December 12, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Its five-week tally stands at 1.43 million copies. Her reign was interrupted by Kanye West's new album, which slid to No. 14 in its third week.
Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" held at No. 2 with 201,000 copies, taking its total to 2.3 million after seven weeks.
The "Glee" Christmas album moved up one spot to No. 3 with 193,000 copies, and "Glee, the Music: Season Two: Volume 4" album fell three places to No. 8 with 74,000.
T.I.'s "No Mercy" started at No. 4 with 159,000. It's his first new studio album to miss the No. 1 slot since 2004, when "Urban Legend" debuted and peaked at No. 10. His last album, 2008's "Paper Trail," was his third No. 1 album in a row, bowing atop the tally with 568,000 copies.
The second-largest new entry on the Billboard 200 came from Daft Punk and the duo's score to the upcoming Disney film "Tron: Legacy." The album entered at No. 10 with 71,000, the highest chart position and sales week for the dance music act. Its previous best week came when 2001's "Discovery" started with 34,000 at No. 44. "TRON: Legacy" is also the first score album to reach the top 10 since 2005, when "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" debuted at No. 6 with 96,000.
Elsewhere, Jackie Evancho's "O Holy Night" fell two to No. 5 (149,000), Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" jumped two to No. 6 (82,000), Josh Groban's "Illuminations" was also up two, to No. 7 (75,000), and Rihanna's "Loud" rose one to No. 9 (71,000).
Overall album sales totaled 10.21 million units, up 11% compared to the previous week, but down 15% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009. Year to date album sales stand at 291.45 million, down 13% compared to the same total at this point last year.
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