Susan Boyle a Thanksgiving sales treat, but Lady Gaga is also a winner

One of the biggest and most surprising music stories of 2009 has become a failed contestant on "Britain's Got Talent," as Susan Boyle shot to No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts and scored the highest-selling debut week of 2009. A TV-fueled sensation, Boyle's collection of pop standards, "I Dreamed a Dream," sold 701,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Equipped with a compelling rags-to-riches back story, Boyle became a reality TV sensation overseas, and a YouTube hit in America. Her orchestral-pop covers hit a holiday season sweet spot, with Boyle topping  Eminem's "Relapse" to score the best debut week of 2009. The rapper's return landed with 608,000 earlier this year.

Adam Lambert, the week's other TV-driven media craze, fared well, if not exactly landing with a blockbuster debut. His "For Your Entertainment" sold 198,000 copies in the days after his American Music Awards scandal. That's an OK number for an "American Idol" veteran these days, as this season's winner, Kris Allen, can attest, but falls below the expectations Billboard printed last week.

Allen's self-titled debut entered with 80,000 last week, and this week took a major dip. Allen seems to be heading straight to a future of Christmas tree lighting ceremonies and neighborhood parades faster than one can say David Archuleta. Allen went from No. 11 to No. 31 and sold 33,000 copies this week, giving him a two week total of 112,000 copies sold.

Boyle's impressive numbers aside, however, another winner for this sales week was pop star Lady Gaga.

The Adam Lambert brouhaha resulting in a sales winner

As evidenced by Miley Cyrus just a few months ago, a little controversy rarely hurts in the sales department. Adam Lambert is on track to beat retail expectations for his RCA release, "For Your Entertainment," according to early returns compiled by keeper-of-the-charts Billboard Magazine.

The artist appeared on the "The Early Show" this morning on CBS, noting that some of his more aggressive moves on his American Music Awards appearance weren't all rehearsed. "The song lyrically is sexual, and I was just performing the lyrics of my song," Lambert said. "I think in the future I will probably make a little bit more of an effort to stay consistent with what I do during rehearsal to what I do during the show. That's something I'm learning now, and that way if anyone has a problem with what I'm doing, it can be explored during rehearsal."

But all the chatter and debate isn't stopping people from picking up his first post-"American Idol" release. Billboard writes that "For Your Entertainment" should sell at least 225,000 copies when it debuts on next week's chart, and could possibly move more with post-Thanksgiving shoppers invading retailers. Lambert's promo tour continues tonight with an appearance on the "Late Show With David Letterman."

The CMA Awards: They're important -- really

Wednesday night's Country Music Assn. Awards are a model of consistency. A look at the nominees for male and female vocalist of the year reveals that eight of the 10 in the running are holdovers from last year. As for the show's top prize in the entertainer of the year field, four of the last five years the trophy has gone to Kenny Chesney.

Change to the Nashville music community does not happen overnight. But sales certainly do, and the CMAs pack a mighty wallop. 

The CMAs had a massive effect on last year's pop chart, according to figures released earlier this year by Nielsen SoundScan. In the week following the awards show, genre sales were up more than 80% in three of the last seven years.

Last year, country sales were up 89%, thanks, of course, to the sensation known as Taylor Swift. Her "Fearless" was released during the week of the CMA Awards, and it went on to sell 592,000 copies in its opening frame. With a little boost from Swift, overall album sales -- country and non-country -- were up 27%.

On the charts: Michael Jackson leads 12 newcomers onto the top of the tally

Foretold to land atop the chart from the moment it was announced, the two-disc souvenir to the behind-the-scenes concert film "Michael Jackson's This Is It" has bowed at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart. The hits collection can still be had for less than $10 at some major retailers, and fans were quick to pick it up, this despite the fact that Jackson's "Number Ones" has been a mega-seller since Jackson's death in late June.

All told, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" sold 373,000 copies for Sony Music, according to Nielsen SoundScan, leading a charge of 12 new albums on the U.S. pop 200. As of Monday, our sister blog Company Town reported that the film "This Is It" has grossed $34.4 million in the U.S. and $103 million worldwide.

Meanwhile, Jackson's "Number Ones" sold an additional 32,000 copies this week. After Jackson's death, "Number Ones" surged to the top of the charts. It sold more than 440,000 copies in the 10 days after his death, and may well end up as 2009's top-selling album.  

The 373,000 copies sold by "This Is It" made it one of the year's top debuts. Albums with better openings include U2's Interscope effort "No Line on the Horizon" (484,000 copies), Dave Matthews Band's RCA release "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" (424,000 copies), Eminem's Aftermath/Interscope release "Relapse" (608,000 copies) and Jay-Z's Roc Nation/Atlantic offering "The Blueprint 3" (476,000 copies). 

Billboard reports that this is Jackson's sixth No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart. It's also, reports Billboard, the artist's best sales week since "HIStory" debuted with 391,000 copies to lead the chart in 1995. 

On the charts: 'Twilight' takes its rightful spot atop the tally

Anyone breathlessly watching the sales of the soundtrack to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" as some sort of indication of the franchise's continued stability should now know that all is well with the teenage soap opera. In its first full week in stores, the soundtrack climbs to No. 1, selling 153,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

On last week's chart, the album came in at No. 2, trailing pop vocalist Michael Bublé, and shocking those who expected the power of "Twilight" to be untouchable. Yet a number of factors played into "New Moon's" No. 2 ranking. One, the soundtrack is out a month in advance of the film (Nov. 20.). Two, "Twilight" may be big, but Bublé has been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, the ultimate pop-culture trump card. Third, the soundtrack to "New Moon" was released on a Friday, giving it only a three-day sales week.

Look for the album to pretty much maintain its residency near the top of the chart for the next few weeks. Soon, a "New Moon" mall tour will launch -- coming to Hollywood & Highland on Nov. 6 with performances from Death Cab for Cutie, Sea Wolf, Band of Skulls and more -- and the trek should give the Chop Shop/Atlantic album plenty of steam heading into the film's opening weekend.

On the charts: 'Twilight' can't match the power of Buble; Dylan, Archuleta in a Christmas album bout

Vocalist Michael Bublé maintains his grip on the top of the pop charts, withstanding a challenge from the international phenom that is teen soap opera "The Twilight Saga." Bublé's Oprah Winfrey-endorsed "Crazy Love" sold 203,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to once again lead the pop chart. In about 10 days of release -- "Crazy Love" was released off-cycle on a Friday rather than the typical Tuesday -- the album has racked up 350,000 sales.

How impressive is that? The hype for Mariah Carey's "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" began way back in June, and the superstar release has sold 250,000 copies in three full weeks of release.

Buble also fends off the much-hyped soundtrack to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which lands at No. 2 on the strength of 115,000 copies sold. Yet "New Moon" is likely in it for the long haul. The soundtrack to the first film sits at No. 63, having sold just under 2.3 million copies to date.

Additionally, "New Moon" won't be released in theaters until Nov. 20, and expect the soundtrack to still be in the upper echleon of the chart when the film hits theaters. Earlier this year, the soundtrack to "Hannah Montana: The Movie" opened with 146,000 copies sold and fell short of the top spot on the pop 200.

Yet the album was released two weeks in advance of the film and eventually moved into the top spot. Heading into this week, it was the third-bestselling soundtrack of 2009, tallying 1.6 million in sales thus far. Only Michael Jackson's "Number Ones" and Taylor Swift's "Fearless" have sold more in 2009. 

On the charts: Michael Buble bubbles to the top, Kiss stays steady

Oprah Winfrey continues to wield her power to influence the music industry. Pop vocalist Michael Bublé appeared on  "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Friday, and -- violà! -- his album lands atop the U.S. pop chart less than one week later.

This is his second chart-topper, Billboard reports, but "Crazy Love" accomplished such a feat with just three days of sales.The album was released off-cycle on Friday, as opposed to the standard music biz release day of Tuesday, and Nielsen SoundScan tracks sales data through Sunday evening. Bublé's "Crazy Love" sold 132,000 copies, according to SoundScan.

Meanwhile, Bublé's past efforts continue to put up solid numbers. Though not reflected on the current pop chart, Bublé has two albums in the top 30 on Billboard's Top Catalog Albums tally. His 2005 release "It's Time" sold just fewer than 5,000 copies this week, giving it a to-date total of 3.2 million. His 2007 effort "Call Me Irresponsible" added another 4,000 copies, bringing it to a total of 1.9 million.

The ballad-focused crooner tends to fly under the radar for someone who puts up such blockbuster numbers. His release wasn't the flashiest to land on this week's pop charts, and yet it still beat out such veteran brand-news as Kiss and Toby Keith. 

Other notables from this week's sales chart:

On the charts: Pearl Jam's Target adventure, Phoenix rising and Whitney's steady

Return to form: With "Backspacer," Pearl Jam scores its first No. 1 album in 13 years, Billboard reports. The set sold 190,000 copies in its first week in stores, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's Pearl Jam's first release outside the major label system, but the band wasn't exactly going the DIY-route. In a move that surprised fans, Pearl Jam lined up with big box retailer Target for the exclusive release.

Long associated with an anti-corporate stance, Pearl Jam avoided major fan criticism by still allowing the album to be sold at indie shops and Apple's iTunes store. While "Backspacer" failed to land on the chart with the same impact of 2006's self-titled effort, which opened with 279,000 copies, it is on par with Target's other recent exclusive. Earlier this year, Prince went with the retailer, and ended up with the album "LotusFlow3r" landing at No. 2 after selling 168,000 copies.

Diva tales: It's another solid week for Whitney Houston. Her "I Look to You" is at No. 4 this week, selling 66,000 copies. That's a dip from last week, when she sold 156,000 copies -- a post-"Oprah" sales bump -- but brings her total to 620,000 copies sold to date. That's good news for Houston as the industry heads into the holiday season. With depressed sales making it relatively easy for a brand-name artist to stay in the top 20, Houston should be on target to rack up a bevy of Grammy nominations if she can maintain a consistent sales base.

Expect her to be joined on the chart next week by another diva -- Mariah Carey. Digital downloads of Carey's "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" are expected to be solid, as the album is currently retailing at Amazon.com for a budget price of $5.99. But album sales may not be a real indicator for the success of "Angel," as it's a truly ad-supported release, coming complete with sponsored liner notes.

Jay-Z and the Beatles: Together again

Are we staring into the blueprint for a Jay-Z-Paul McCartney-Ringo Starr trio performance on a future  Grammy Awards show?

The rapper and the Beatles are once again intertwined on the national sales charts this week, Jay-Z debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 with “The Blueprint 3,” with sales of 476,000 copies. With his 11th No. 1 album on the Top 200, Jay-Z is now the solo act with the most No. 1 albums, breaking a tie with Elvis Presley that he established when “American Gangster” made it to the top in 2007. The only act with more No. 1s? The Beatles, whose 1968 double LP known as “The White Album” was a reference point for the title of the rapper's 2003 set, “The Black Album.” (For those of you with scorecards, that was the one billed as his final release before he went into retirement.)

During the same week that a committedly unretired Jay-Z moved ahead of Presley, all 13 of the Beatles'  original studio releases landed in the Top 20 of Billboard’s Top Pop Catalog Albums listing of works that originally came out at least 18 months ago. They sold 626,000 copies of the remastered albums; that five-day total tops 1 million when the individual albums within two box sets are factored in.

“The Beatles in Stereo” box set -- a 14-album, 16-CD collection listing for $260 -- sold almost 26,000 copies. “The Beatles in Mono,”  an 11-album, 13-CD set listing for $300, sold nearly 12,000 copies from the release date of Sept. 9 through Sunday, the end of the sales monitoring period tallied by Nielsen SoundScan. Adding the individual titles contained in each box set, the Beatles sold nearly 1.1 million CDs last week.

Sugarland's Kristian Bush makes good on promise to Georgia record store, buys some indie rock

Sugarland's Kristian Bush stopped by a suburban Atlanta record store Wednesday, making good on a promise he left on the shop's website -- at least partially.

Decatur CD's Warren Hudson had earlier criticized the band on the company blog, blasting the local country duo for striking an exclusive agreement with Wal-Mart for the release of "Live on the Inside," a CD/DVD combo that debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart. Hudson wrote to Sugarland that "by shutting the door on independent record stores, you’re in effect shutting the door on your hometown."

Bush responded on the store's site, writing, "You are right, and thanks for the suggestion. I am in Houston for a show right now but will come by the store when I get home on Wednesday and bring you a few boxes of discs. We can peel off the Wal-Mart stickers together while we catch up."

Pop & Hiss spoke with Hudson early Wednesday, and Hudson was positive that Bush was indeed the one who'd left the comment on the blog, although he'd made no effort to verify it. Sugarland's management neither confirmed nor denied the blog comment.

It turns out that it was indeed Bush, and the artist stopped by Wednesday afternoon, said Decatur's Eliot Johnson. There was one hitch, however.