Gnarls, Flo Rida can't best Danity Kane

Reality show-bred girl group Danity Kane lands atop this week's U.S. pop chart, and gives the graduates of MTV's "Making the Band" its second No. 1 album. Meanwhile, rap newcomer Flo Rida finds that even a pair of hot-selling singles doesn't guarantee a six-figure entry.

Danity Kane's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" bows atop the chart, selling 236,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's on par with the 234,000 first-week figure for the act's 2006 debut, which went on to sell about 922,000 copies.

Entering at a distant No. 4 is Flo Rida, whose "Mail on Sunday" follows his Top-30 singles "Low," featuring T-Pain, and "Elevator," featuring Timbaland. "Mail on Sunday" sold 86,000 copies, but the release feels a bit anti-climactic after the digital sales posted by his singles.

"Low," for instance, has sold 3.4 million digital downloads to date, which, according to Billboard, makes it the top-selling digital track of all time. "Elevator" is no slouch, either, having sold 373,000 digital downloads.

Gnarls Barkley's rush-released "The Odd Couple" arrives at No. 18. It sold 31,000 copies after being released to digital retailers on March 18. The CD had originally been pegged for an April 8 release, but was bumped up after leaking online.

Of the 31,000 copies sold, 26,000 were from digital retailers. No surprise, as physical retailers began selling the album as it arrived throughout the week.

Grammy watch: Gnarls Barkley's debut, "St. Elsewhere," scored an album of the year nod, but its success was driven largely by the runaway hit "Crazy." Thus far, "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)," the first single off of "The Odd Couple," hasn't taken hold, despite "The Odd Couple" being a fascinatingly weird listen. Reviews on "The Odd Couple" have been positive, but if the album doesn't spawn a breakaway single, it'll be curious if Recording Academy voters are just as kind to the electro-soul duo a second time around. For what it's worth, they should be, as it's an album worthy of being added to the below list.

2009 Grammy album of the year contenders:

Gnarls Barkley, "The Odd Couple"
Radiohead, "In Rainbows"
Lupe Fiasco,"The Cool"
Sheryl Crow,"Detours"
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, "Raising Sand"
Mary J. Blige, "Growing Pains"

Picture: Danity Kane, by  Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times 

Comments

[graeme]

Solid list of album contenders so far...but you're missing the frontrunner, Alicia Keys.

[Todd Martens]

Absolutely. Thanks, Graeme. Good catch. I knew I'd miss one of those 2007 releases.