OutKast Stay on Top

The holiday shot in the music industry's arm is officially over. OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below topped this week's chart with 151,000 sales, according to SoundScan, less than half of the album's tally a week earlier.

Only four records posted six-figure sales -- Alicia Keys' The Diary of Alicia Keys (116,000), Now That's What I Call Music! 14 (112,000) and Sheryl Crow's The Very Best of Sheryl Crow (103,000) -- as opposed to the thirty-two that did so the week before Christmas. And as is usually the case in the post-holiday void, there were almost no newcomers on the chart. The Cold Mountain soundtrack was the week's best rookie, selling 16,000 copies at Number 114.

Jay-Z's The Black Album, Evanescence's Fallen, G-Unit's Beg for Mercy all worked their way back into the Top Ten after having yielded to newer releases for the holidays. But beyond that, there was little shaking on the charts. And next week (or for that matter, the rest of the month) offers little hope for relief, as potential blockbusters will largely remain on ice until spring.

This week's Top Ten: OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below; Alicia Keys' The Diary of Alicia Keys; Now That's What I Call Music! 14; Sheryl Crow's The Very Best of Sheryl Crow; No Doubt's Singles 1992-2003; Jay-Z's The Black Album; Evanescence's Fallen; G-Unit's Beg for Mercy; Toby Keith's Shock N Y'all; and Ruben Studdard's Soulful.

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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