Alicia Keys - J Records
Alicia Keys‘ last three albums were free to open at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but things weren’t so easy this time.
Keys’ new album, The Element of Freedom, opens big at No. 2, selling 417,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan, but it’s Susan Boyle‘s debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, that takes the top prize for the fourth week in a row.
Boyle’s album raked in an astronomical 661,000 copies last week, bringing her sales total to 2,465,000 copies reports Billboard. With just 468,000 units sold separating ‘Dream’ and the year’s biggest selling album, Taylor Swift‘s Fearless, and a partial week of Christmas shopping left, Boyle’s album will easily become the sales leader of 2009.
Back to Keys, while ‘Freedom’ has a strong showing in today’s sales climate, it’s down significantly from the 742,000 opening of her last album, 2007′s As I Am.
Susan Boyle has the entire music industry taking notice, they’re in shock.
She’s just blown everyone else out of the water.
This is a major accomplishment in just a few short weeks. I’m thrilled for her.