Preliminary weekly album sales figures from Hits Daily Double reveal that both Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” and Andrea Bocelli’s “My Christmas” will greatly exceed forecasts for the week.
Boyle will win a second consecutive week with around 509,000 copies sold, while Bocelli’s album leaps greatly to an estimated 440,000 copies moved. Final figures are due from Billboard on Wednesday.
The duo continues to prove that appealing to the older audience is the trick to moving albums in the holiday season. Younger-skewing artists Taylor Swift and R. Kelly follow distantly with around 130,000 and 115,000 for “Fearless” and “Untitled,” respectively.
R. Kelly’s album was the only new release to make an impact. The Alvin & The Chipmunks “Squeakquel” album will likely fall short of the top 25 with under 40,000, while season eight “American Idol” finalist Allison Iraheta’s “Just Like You” moved about 32,000 copies in its first week, landing slightly behind “Christmas from the Heart,” the holiday album from season seven contestant David Archuleta (about 36,000).
Last week’s buzzworthy pop releases from Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga and Rihanna all dropped by about 65-75% for their second weeks on the charts.
