The Billboard 200 chart for the week has been released, and it confirms that Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream” shattered last week’s already-lofty projections.
The album hit a debut sales figure of 701,000 this past week, which marks the year’s top American sales week (Eminem’s “Relapse” previously held the spot with 608,000 first week sales). The figure also represents the best premiere sales figure for a debut artist since Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” opened to 803,000 in 1993.
Andrea Bocelli’s holdover “My Christmas” landed in second with 218,000.
“American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment” followed with 198,000, a figure that more than doubles the opening number for winner Kris Allen’s self-titled debut (80,000 last week). Lambert’s claimed the edge over Rihanna’s “Rated R,” which kicks things off at 181,000.
Though Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster” fell behind the other major releases in fifth for the week (174,000), a case could be made that her album technically outsold the Lambert and Rihanna records. Sales of her debut “The Fame,” which include purchases of the deluxe edition packaged with the songs from “The Fame Monster,” moved up 429% this week to 151,000 units (6th place). As most of that increase can be attributed to the deluxe release, it is not unfair to say overall sales of “The Fame Monster” topped “For Your Entertainment” and “Rated R.”
Miley Cyrus’ Wal-Mart exclusive “The Time of Our Lives” jumped to 150,000 units (7th place) in conjunction with the retailer’s holiday shopping promotion. Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” (125,000), Carrie Underwood’s “Play On” (124,000) and Norah Jones’ “The Fall” (92,000) completed the top ten.