It took the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack over a year on the charts to make it to #1, but now that it has, it can’t be stopped. For the second week in a row, the Grammys’ Album of the Year will take the top position on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling nearly 150,000 copies, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (March 20).
The self-titled debut album by boy band B2K will come in second place on next week’s chart, selling nearly 110,000 copies, and Alan Jackson will reclaim top-three status after falling into the still-formidable fifth slot last week. His Drive moved nearly 96,000 units.
Alanis Morissette’s Under Rug Swept will slip a spot from last week to #4, while Brandy’s Full Moon, down from last week’s second-place debut, will round out the top five albums, selling more than 87,000 copies.
Linkin Park and Ludacris, longtime fixtures in the top 10, will hold their ground again next week. Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory will take sixth place, with Word of Mouf right behind it. Already maintaining a steady presence in the upper reaches of the charts, Pink will get a little bump from #10 to #8 as a result of her new single, “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” in which she tries (but fails) to find similarities between herself and Britney Spears.
Kylie Minogue and Jennifer Lopez fill out the top 10 with Fever and J to Tha L-O!, respectively, each selling more than 68,000 copies.
Except for Jackson, all of the artists in the top 20 who have been on the chart previously did not see increases in sales. The only thing to really disrupt the lounging chart-dwellers is a crop of debut records.
The “Resident Evil” soundtrack will come in at #24, selling over 41,000 copies in its first week. Destiny’s Child’s This Is the Remix will check in a little lower than J. Lo’s top-spot remix LP debut, but it puts in a fine showing nonetheless at #29. Remy Shand’s Way I Feel will take #39 with over 30,000 copies sold, while N.E.R.D’s Stateside debut of In Search Of… will come in at #61.
There are also a handful of jumps and tumbles in next week’s numbers. The White Stripes will spend their second week on the chart 28 spots higher than their first, with White Blood Cells coming in at #157 with almost 8,500 more copies sold. Trik Turner’s eponymous album continues to climb the charts, moving from #129 to #100.
Gorillaz’s G-Sides will plummet from #105 to #144 with over 9,000 albums sold. Train’s next stop will be downtown when they appear at #69, slipping from #48 the week before. Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft, which enjoyed a Grammy bump after his performance at the awards, will take the biggest plunge, down 56 places to #199.
