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On the Charts: Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Britney Spears Lead the Charge in Big Sales Week

12/31/08, 11:15 am EST

The Big News: Taylor Swift managed to keep the top spot on love lockdown for yet another week, selling 262,000 more copies of Fearless (which went double platinum). Platinum was the theme of the week as Britney Spears’ Circus, Nickelback’s Dark Horse, Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak and the Twilight soundtrack all crossed the million-selling plateau on their way to charting at three through six, respectively. Beyoncé’s I Am… Sasha Fierce jumped from five to second place thanks to an additional 210,000 copies sold, while Kanye leapt from 11 to five thanks to that repackaged 808s with the new artwork. With four of the top six releases geared toward females, it’s comforting to know women are at least still purchasing CDs.

Debuts: At 81, the self-titled album from a band called Brutha charted. That was the only debut on the entire Top 200 this week.

Last Week’s Heroes: Keyshia Cole’s A Different Me and Jamie Foxx’s Intuition couldn’t sustain their big debut weeks as Cole dropped from two to seven and Foxx followed from three to nine. Last week’s anti-hero, Fall Out Boy’s Folie a Deux, continued to chart with a whimper, falling from eight to 18. And Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy shockingly gained momentum, gaining from 33 to 25 thanks to a 9 percent sales increase. With no major releases on deck for these next four Tuesdays (yesterday included), and barring some out-of-left-field Juno-like success story, it’s conceivable that Swift might own the Number One spot until Bruce Springsteen’s Working on a Dream comes out on January 27th.

Daniel Kreps

More Chart Roundup, General, Rock News

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Comments

Joe | 12/31/2008, 11:54 am EST

“Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy shockingly gained momentum, gaining from 33 to 25 thanks to a 9 percent sales increase”

Not really shocking to those of us who have actually listened to the album and realized that it’s a masterwork. The fans of good music are slowly coming around. This album will be firmly entrenched in the top 100 come this time next year.

Jon | 12/31/2008, 2:48 pm EST

Not a fan of the new GN’R album but love their old stuff. However, ppl I know that are not fans of old GNR music really enjoy it.. so who knows..

britneyfan | 12/31/2008, 7:09 pm EST

congratulations Britney!!!!!!2009 will be britney’s year!!!

paula | 12/31/2008, 7:16 pm EST

YAYYY GO BRITNEY! Its Britney bitch, Im so proud of you!

This will go down as the greatest comeback in the history of pop music!!!

mike | 12/31/2008, 7:50 pm EST

the new GNR is great. i love so many of the songs, esp. This I Love and Sorry!

John | 12/31/2008, 8:00 pm EST

Had no doubt Britney’s Circus would go platinum. It will go at least triple platinum in the US before its done. Its one of the tightest pop and dance albums i’ve heard in a really long time, and harkens back to the hey dey of Michael Jackson, when pop albums had beats, hooks and were great to sing or dance along to… Britney brings it on this new album. Hope to see a couple more #1 singles from this record over the next few months!

Imperial | 12/31/2008, 8:50 pm EST

Britney’s album is pure fire. I can’t seem to listen to hardly anything else! I wouldn’t be surpsied if it went back to no. 1 when her “Circus” single really starts to hit radio.

T J | 12/31/2008, 9:04 pm EST

Seven weeks to double-platinum status has proven “Fearless” by Taylor Swift is no fluke.
This sophomore effort cd continues to sell at a rate that is beating even new releases.
Records are made to be broken and it looks like Taylor Swift with Fearless is just starting to rack up the awards!

cpaxlvacy | 12/31/2008, 9:55 pm EST

Guns n’ Roses Chinese Democracy = Best album of 2008, let’s wait for Axl to release some videos and a tour and some tv appearences..

cos0002 | 12/31/2008, 11:26 pm EST

chinese democracy is simply a masterpiece. the most consistent album i have heard in a very long time.

Meesh | 1/1/2009, 2:42 am EST

Gotta Love Guns N’ Roses!
Chinese Democracy is a work or musical art!

Tommy | 1/1/2009, 4:19 am EST

Fakegnr is a fraud

Dave | 1/1/2009, 9:18 am EST

Chinese Democracy is the best album to come out by any artist in long time. It’s a masterpiece.

Deborah | 1/1/2009, 9:20 am EST

Chinese Democracy is simply wonderful!!!

Glad to know ppl are finally realizing that.

britney the goddess | 1/1/2009, 9:25 am EST

britney spears is the goddess of music and circus is the best album ive ever heard!!! gooooo queen britney

Josh | 1/1/2009, 10:36 am EST

Nice to see people are finally getting over this ‘new gnr’ wall and appreciating the music for what it is — quality

Four Nick Eight | 1/1/2009, 1:43 pm EST

There’s really only one song on Chinese Democracy that doesnt float my boat and that’s “I.R.S”. Everything else is top notch. A friend of mine said to me “I thought it would just be good to hear Axls voice again, but this is way better than I thought”. Best song on the album is “Sorry”, a great power ballad with a sublime yet powerful guitar solo.

andrew | 1/1/2009, 3:26 pm EST

britney spears is a fuckup
guns n roses kicks ass

truth 2.0 | 1/1/2009, 4:30 pm EST

Please understand that Slash is concerned with expanding his stock portfolio but not his musical horizons. Please understand that Axl has given everything he has over the last 14 years to create this album. Axl is a musical genius. Slash was, and is, an above-average hired guitar player recycling riffs that were thrown out during Appetite and Use your Illusion sessions. He has proven that on 2 mediocre VR albums and a wretched Snakepit project. Axl took the time to craft his vision and it it quite simply is incredible. Slash went for the quick fix and the easy money with VR and Guitar Hero. Can we ONCE AND FOR ALL DROP THE OLD VS. NEW GNR ARGUMENT AND LISTEN TO THE ALBUM FOR WHAT IT IS???

Marla | 1/1/2009, 7:33 pm EST

Axl Rose IS Guns N’ Roses and it is no longer the old GNR that people were so used to. Face the fact that Axl has been the genius behind the whole band the entire time and Chinese Democracy is perhaps only one of his greatest works of yet. Now tell me…where is Slash, Duff, and Matt at now?? Not nearly as popular without Axl huh? It’s always been Axl’s voice and genius that made the band.

Live and Let Live | 1/1/2009, 8:37 pm EST

CD is Guns N’ Roses best yet! A powerful masterpiece and the best album of 2008, no contest.

JayceAce23 | 1/1/2009, 8:44 pm EST

Chinese Democracy *IS* one of the most consistent albums to come out in a long time. Each song shows an attention to detail not seen on most newer albums. You simply cannot argue with

Better
If The World
Catcher in the Rye
Sorry

and most importantly

This I Love.

These songs ARE GNR….they are AMAZING. I would take those 4 songs against ANY 4 songs from ANY artist over the past 5 years at least.

It wouldn’t even be a contest…IF it was judged on musicality, creativity, scope, and overall song quality.

If you haven’t listened to those 4 songs…listen to them and THEN come give me your opinion of Chinese Democracy. It’s not Appetite…but it’s damn good in it’s own right.

JayceAce23 | 1/1/2009, 8:57 pm EST

or 5 songs.

jonathan Riley | 1/2/2009, 12:48 am EST

brutha debuted at 81? has that happened before?

Tynxy | 1/2/2009, 7:22 am EST

Chinese Democracy is a great work. The songs are very powerful.

This is good music!!!

New GN’R are great! All the people involved in this album are very professionals.

Best album of 2008!

Tynxy | 1/2/2009, 7:26 am EST

The songs: This I love, Sorry, and Prostitute are ones of my favorites. Axl sings them with a lot of emotion. Awesome!!!

Seb | 1/2/2009, 7:35 am EST

GUNS N ROSES rules, incredible album, un chef-d’oeuvre !

Tom | 1/2/2009, 4:12 pm EST

WHOOOOOO! BRITNEY DESERVES MORE SHE HAS NOW CUZ WITHOUT HER POP WOULD HAVE DIED BEFORE THE MILLENIUM!

Detective Booby | 1/2/2009, 7:29 pm EST

Weird, I didn’t think Guns n Roses still existed. I am pretty sure its just Axl Rose and imaginary friends created by the internet :\.

I am happy for Kanye that his album is back up, it was a great risk for him to take, and I want it to take off. Anything that is more electronic and less “b*tches and hoes” is welcomed.

itsbritneybiach | 1/2/2009, 10:58 pm EST

blackout hasnt sold a million still after one year and over in the charts,a few weeks of circus being released and it’s platinum,so i have no doubt what so ever this album will sell 8-10 million world wide by the time it’s done

Leonardo | 1/3/2009, 3:26 pm EST

Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy is a masterpiece; not only the best record of the year but the best on the decade.

Axl Rose & Bruce Springsteen will rule the world on 2009!!!

Brian | 1/4/2009, 1:06 am EST

Give the new guns a extra spin its awsome!!!!

LUIS | 1/4/2009, 7:14 pm EST

I LOVE BRITNEY!!!!!!!!!!! AND YES IM STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alex! (Argentina) | 1/5/2009, 12:01 am EST

Britney is Back! With Only 4 Weeks Sales Has Gone Platimun. “Circus” has sold 1,100,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan since it was realised on Dic 2nd 2008!

Jungleland | 1/5/2009, 11:25 am EST

“Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy shockingly gained momentum, gaining from 33 to 25 thanks to a 9 percent sales increase”

Or that people spent their Best Buy gift cards on it. Best Buy finally got the message and put the CD out where people could find it

I trashed this CD the day it came out, but it is starting to grow on me (still hate the “Pro-tools ‘97″ production and nu-rock guitar sounds though)

Carla Lesh | 1/6/2009, 2:03 pm EST