Taylor Swift's "Fearless" returns to No. 1
Heading into the clubhouse turn of the holiday sales season, Taylor Swift recaptured the No. 1 spot on the national album chart with “Fearless,” returning to the top of the heap five weeks after debuting there.
The 18-year-old singer-songwriter’s second album has now sold more than 1.5 million copies, adding to her already impressive year in which her 2006 debut album, “Taylor Swift,” was the fifth bestselling album of 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
“Fearless” sold 249,000 copies, a 29% increase from the previous week and more than enough to move her ahead of Britney Spears’ “Circus,” last week’s No. 1 seller. “Circus” dropped to No. 2 in its second week, with sales of 200,000. The good news for the struggling record industry is that every album in the Top 10 sold more than 100,000 copies.
No new albums entered the Top 10. The highest charting debut was Musiq Soulchild’s “OnMyRadio,” which starts out at No. 11 with sales of 91,000 copies.
The Billboard-Nielsen list of 2008’s top sellers is skewed with last Christmas’ biggest hits because the sales period the magazine considered ran from Dec. 1, 2007, through Nov. 29, 2008. Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” came out on top, followed, in order, by Josh Groban’s “Noel,” Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III,” the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden,” “Taylor Swift,” Kid Rock’s “Rock N Roll Jesus,” Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends,” Vol. 26 in the “Now That’s What I Call Music!” hits compilation series, Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride” and Garth Brooks’ latest compilation “The Ultimate Hits.”
-- Randy Lewis
Photo of Swift winning the award for country female artist during the 2008 American Music Awards by Vince Bucci/Getty Images for AMA
