On the Charts: Dixie Chicks, James Blunt, Shakira

Tweet

• The Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way held strong on to their Number One spot with 271,179 albums sold in their second week on the charts. At the same time, ticket sales for the Accidents & Accusations tour have been surprisingly low: The Memphis show has already been pulled from the band's tour schedule and other dates at risk for cancellation include shows in Oklahoma City, Houston and Indianapolis.

•James Blunt's May 29th appearance on the Today show appears to have boosted sales of his debut album, Back to Bedlam, into the Top 10 again; it sold 51,144 copies.

• Shakira's Oral Fixation is up three spots to Number 10 thanks to her smoking-hot single "Hips Don't Lie" featuring Wyclef Jean. The song tops the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the title of greatest digital sales gainer with 266,500 downloads.

• Gnarls Barkley is rolling on the strength of "Crazy"; their album St. Elsewhere jumped from Number 21 to 14 this week, selling 36,160 units.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES The 10 Best Zombie Movie Scenes
• 
  TV The Most WTF? Moments of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter