Adele, Lana Del Rey and Leonard Cohen lead the pop charts
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The charts have a much-publicized newcomer near the top, but vampy pop chanteuse Lana Del Rey is a distant No. 2. Her Interscope debut ‘Born to Die’ lands in the runner-up spot with more than 76,000 copies sold in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. Del Rey, the subject of much debate following her ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance, is one of three newbies on this week’s chart, in which only one artist sold more than six figures.
It’s no real guess as to who, as British soul sensation Adele once again leads the top of the U.S. pop charts. Her ‘21,’ in week No. 50, sold 122,000 copies. To date, she’s sold more than 6.3 million, and that tally will see an even bigger bump in the next two weeks after Adele returns to the stage at this Sunday’s Grammy Awards. It will be her first live performance since undergoing vocal surgery, and how she’ll sound is one of the bigger story lines of this year’s Grammy show, as Adele is the clear front-runner for album of the year.
Elsewhere in the top-10, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Old Ideas’ bows at No. 3, having sold 41,000 copies. The 12th studio album from the legendary artist is his best-ever sales week since SoundScan began tracking music sales data in 1991, reports Billboard. The 77-year-old singer has been back in the public’s eye the last few years. In 2009 he staged his first U.S. tour in nearly 15 years and played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Farther down, gospel artist Fred Hammond enters at No. 8 with his ‘God, Love & Romance,’ which sold 26,000 copies.
Other notes from this week’s sales chart:
The Super Bowl halftime show: SoundScan’s weekly sales data goes through Sunday evening, so the full effects of Sunday’s game won’t be revealed till next week’s chart. Yet Madonna’s ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’’ featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. entered the digital sales chart at No. 7 with 115,000 downloads sold. The song was released on Friday, so that figure accounts for only what the song sold over the weekend. Meanwhile, her hits collection ‘Celebration’ reenters the album chart at No. 24 with 16,000 copies sold.
Madonna’s middle-finger flashing dance partner M.I.A. at the halftime show also enters the digital chart with her new single ‘Bad Girls.’ The track arrives at No. 92 with 21,000 downloads sold. The cut was released on Jan. 31, however, and the sales tally likely doesn’t represent any post-Super Bowl effect.
Moving on up: Kelly Clarkson, who sang the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, again has the top-selling digital track with ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),’ which sells another 237,000 downloads this week. To date, it’s moved more than 990,000 downloads. Her album, the sans-parenthesis ‘Stronger,’ jumps from No. 20 to No. 13, selling more than 20,000 copies this week, a 26% sales bump.
Australia’s Gotye has a sold week, as his ‘Making Mirrors,’ which had been available on iTunes since December, was officially released in physical form. It sold more than 17,000 copies this week, a 99% increase over the prior week. The act’s single ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ has sold more than 373,000 digital downloads.
ALSO:
Leonard Cohen reborn in the U.S.A.
Album review: Lana Del Rey’s ‘Born to Die’
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-- Todd Martens
