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| by kenn on 1/15/2004 10:37:00 AM |
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Album report card: Some hits, a few misses
 Jay-Z gets an A, Britney Spears doesn't make the grade, Fuel flunks out, and Outkast moves to the head of the class. Of 26 albums USA TODAY music critics touted as potential blockbusters in September's fall preview, 22 entered Billboard in the top 10, eight at No. 1. The predictions yielded a few duds and missed a handful of heavy lifters (Toby Keith's Shock'n Y'All) and sleepers (Dido's Life for Rent). But eight of the entries topped the chart and 18 went gold (sales of 500,000-plus) by year's end.
Jay-Z gets an A, Britney Spears doesn't make the grade, Fuel flunks out, and Outkast moves to the head of the class. Of 26 albums USA TODAY music critics touted aspotential blockbusters in September's fall preview, 22 entered Billboard in the top 10, eight at No. 1. The predictions yielded a few duds and missed a handful of heavylifters (Toby Keith's Shock'n Y'All) and sleepers (Dido's Life for Rent). But 18 of the entries went gold (sales of 500,000-plus) by year's end.Our report card for the fall semester, based on sales, radio airplay and marketplace expectations, confers its highest honors on Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the only fourth-quarter release to earn an A+. (Related clip: Hear a bit of Outkast's Hey Ya)
The rest of the class (with stats provided by Nielsen SoundScan):
A
Alicia Keys, The Diary of Alicia Keys (released Dec. 2). Opened at No. 1 with 618,000 copies; currently No. 2; sales of 1.8 million copies in five weeks. The R&B prodigy broke the sophomore jinx with this critical and commercial smash.
Clay Aiken, Measure of a Man (Oct. 14). Opened at No. 1 with 613,000 copies; currently No. 22; sales of 2.1 million in 12 weeks. The dweeby American Idol runner-up failed to seduce radio but didn't need to: After months of breathless Internet chatter, legions of swooning disciples stampeded record stores.
Josh Groban, Closer (Nov. 11). Opened at No. 4 with 375,000; currently No. 11 (it goes to No. 1 next week); sales of 1.9 million in eight weeks. Defying industry odds, Groban conquered the charts with a classical crossover debut in 2001, then repeated the triumph with this similarly unorthodox, though more pop-oriented, crowd-pleaser.
Jay-Z, The Black Album(Nov. 28). Opened at No. 1 with 463,000; currently No. 6; sales of 1.7 million in six weeks. The rapper's purported swan song underscores Jay-Z's A-list standing in hip-hop.
Rod Stewart, As Time Goes By ... The Great American Songbook: Volume II (Oct. 21). Opened at No. 2 with 212,000; currently No. 21; sales of 1.5 million in 11 weeks. Stewart's amazing comeback as a chestnut crooner continues with this hot-selling sequel to It Had to Be You, which sold 2.2 million copies and is No. 58 on the chart.
Ludacris, Chicken N Beer (Oct. 7). Opened at No. 1 with 430,000; currently No. 17; sales of 1.6 million in 13 weeks. Boosted by a starring role in 2 Fast, 2 Furious, Ludacris returned to the rap fold with enhanced visibility and the credibility-fueling assistance of guests 50 Cent, Chingy and Snoop Dogg.
Ruben Studdard, Soulful (Dec. 9). Opened at No. 1 with 417,000; currently No. 10; sales of 954,000 in four weeks. The oversized American Idol champ seemed to disappear in Aiken's skinny shadow until Soulful's arrival demonstrated his marketplace heft.
B
Dave Matthews, Some Devil (Sept. 23). Opened at No. 2 with 469,000; currently No. 88; sales of 1.3 million in 15 weeks. Like his multiplatinum forays with the Dave Matthews Band, the jam-band leader"s solo debut didn"t suffer from a lack of radio support.
Britney Spears, In the Zone (Nov. 18). Opened at No. 1 with 609,000; currently No. 14; sales of 1.7 million in seven weeks. Overexposure (the Madonna kiss, a quickie Vegas marriage and assorted publicity stunts) didn't do much for the bottom line. Zone is falling short of previous benchmarks.
Blink-182, Blink-182 (Nov. 18). Opened at No. 3 with 313,000; currently No. 12; sales of 1.1 million in seven weeks. A gamble pays off as fans seem to be accepting the band's growth spurt from puberty to adulthood.
Nickelback, The Long Road (Sept. 23). Opened at No. 6 with 200,000; currently No. 18; sales of 1.3 million in 15 weeks. The Vancouver band has strong momentum but probably won't match sales of 2001's Silver Side Up, which sold 4.7 million copies and made Nickelback radio's most-played rock act of 2002.
Sting, Sacred Love (Sept. 30). Opened at No. 3 with 195,000; currently No. 70; sales of 915,000 in 14 weeks. Baby-boomer artists tend to flourish on the tour circuit and oldies stations, but few have Sting's endurance on the record charts. Steady sales and savvy promotion could boost Sacred toward the multi-platinum level of 1999's Brand New Day.
DMX, Grand Champ (Sept. 16). Opened at No. 1 with 312,000; currently No. 8; sales of 953,000 in 16 weeks. A two-year hiatus in Hollywood clearly didn't hamper DMX's leading-man status in rap.
Martina McBride, Martina (Sept. 30). Opened at No. 7 with 123,000; currently No. 63; sales of 685,000 in 14 weeks. While her tally pales against pop and rap sensations, the warbler is a force in country thanks to robust sales and healthy airplay for This One's for the Girls.
C
Pink, Try This (Nov. 11). Opened at No. 9 with 147,000; currently No. 78; sales of 556,000 in eight weeks. Pink's collaboration with punker Tim Armstrong, launched by tepid airplay for Trouble, so far lacks the party-starting sizzle of Missundaztood, which sold nearly 5 million copies.
Erykah Badu, Worldwide Underground (Sept. 16). Opened at No. 3 with 144,000; no longer in top 200; sales of 449,000 in 16 weeks. Despite R&B hit Danger and an all-star collaboration on a remake of 1980's Funk You Up, Badu's Underground didn't break through as expected.
Missy Elliott, This is Not a Test! (Nov. 25). Opened at No. 13 with 145,000; currently No. 55; sales of 431,000 in six weeks. Without a magnet like mega-hit Work It, Test may not recover from a lackluster chart entry and could be doomed to dramatically trail sales of last year's Under Construction.
Ja Rule, Blood in My Eye (Nov. 4). Opened at No. 6 with 140,000; currently No. 143; sales of 394,000 in nine weeks. As colleagues from Outkast to Jay-Z rule the rap roost, Ja Rule's grip has weakened.
The Strokes, Room on Fire (Oct. 21). Opened at No. 4 with 126,000; currently No. 95; sales of 375,000 in 11 weeks. Room on Fire isn't the barn-burner many predicted, but it's on course to surpass sales of platinum debut Is This It.
P.O.D., Payable on Death (Nov. 4). Opened at No. 9 with 106,000; currently No. 98; sales of 377,000 in nine weeks. Pre-release buzz didn't translate into a sales frenzy, and the spiritually driven rock band will need improved airplay boosts to catch 2001's Satellite, which sold 2.7 million copies.
D
Enrique Iglesias, Seven (Nov. 25). Opened at No. 31 with 77,000; currently No. 115; sales of 260,000 in six weeks. The Latin heartthrob's third English-language album isn't translating to the masses.
Reba McEntire, Room to Breathe (Nov. 18). Opened at No. 25 with 73,000; currently No. 150; sales of 280,000 in seven weeks. The country vet's WB sitcom didn't substantially enhance her music career, though the album got a solid start thanks to gospelized hit I'm Gonna Take That Mountain.
F
Barenaked Ladies, Everything to Everyone (Oct. 21). Opened at No. 10 with 71,000; no longer in top 200; sales of 256,000 in 11 weeks. Many expected a mainstream victory for this sixth studio album by rock's crack band of wisecrackers, but radio tuned out and fans turned off.
Bubba Sparxxx, Deliverance (Sept. 16). Opened at No. 10 with 65,000; no longer in top 200; sales of 272,000 in 16 weeks. After a promising start, the Georgia rapper's "hick-hop" stories, produced by Timbaland, fell off the pop radar. Latest single Back in the Mud is not reversing the trend on the R&B and rhythmic top 40 charts.
Fuel, Natural Selection (Sept. 23). Opened at No. 15 with 71,000; currently No. 186; sales of 262,000 in 15 weeks. Unless Selection yields a hit on par with breakthrough Hemorrhage (In My Hands), Fuel could be running on empty. So far, new track Million Miles is not racing up the rock chart.
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