As expected, Britney Spears’ “Circus” makes a big bow at the top of The Billboard 200, becoming her fifth No. 1. The Jive set moved 505,000 copies in the United States, making Spears the only act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have four albums debut with 500,000 or more.
Previously, her second, third and fourth sets all racked up half-million weeks: 2000’s “Oops! I Did It Again” started with 1.3 million, 2001’s “Britney” debuted with 746,000 and 2003’s “In the Zone” entered the chart with 609,000. Among female artists, only four have earned more No. 1 albums: Barbra Streisand (eight), Madonna (seven) and Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson (both with six). [Billboard]
In other chart-related news, Kanye’s 808s and Heartbreak falls from the penthouse with a sales decrease of 67% to sell 145k (#4), the Killers’ Day & Age drops from 6-15 with a 68% decrease in sales and went to sell 61,227 copies. Guns N Roses’ Chinese Democracy plummetted 78% and dropped 3-17 with 56,230 copies sold. For the first time in a while, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida is outselling Lil Wayne’s Tha Chater 3. Viva is at No. 34 with sales of 31,352 and C3 is down 37-47 with sales of 22,076. [HITS]
