Kelly
R. Kelly, the Chicago singer whose battles with the law over child pornography and sexual assault have kept his name in the news over the last nine months, debuted at No. 1 on the week's album sales chart. His sixth solo album, "Chocolate Factory" (Jive), sold 532,000 copies in the week ending Sunday, staving off a challenge by last week's chart-topper, 50 Cent.
Rapper 50 Cent, taken under the wing of Eminem, also crossed the half-million mark, selling 520,000 copies of his Interscope release "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." Norah Jones remained in third place, though sales of her Blue Note debut "Come Away With Me" rose by 4,000 units to 144,000 in sales. Historically, the week following Valentine's Day sees a considerable drop in sales.
Top debut was the soundtrack to Jet Li-DMX pic "Cradle 2 the Grave" (Def Jam). Soundtrack, featuring bounty of hardcore rap acts including 50 Cent, Clipse and DMX, sold nearly 98,000 albums. The hard-rock soundtrack to "Daredevil" (Wind-up), meanwhile, leapt six places to land at No. 9 on sales of 70,000.
Similarly, the "Grammy Nominees" compilation from Warner Strategic Marketing rose to No. 10 from 16 in the week preceding Sunday's telecast. Disc registered sales of 64,000. T.A.T.U., the Russian lesbian teen dance-music duo, saw their "200 KM/H in the Wrong Lane" (Interscope) race to No. 13 from 36, selling 51,000 units. One place behind them was Sean Paul, whose "Duty Rock" moved up 25 places on sales of 49,000.
Country music acts took it on the chin last week, as Shania Twain's "Up!," George Strait's "For the Last Time," Tim McGraw's "Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors" and Faith Hill's "Cry" all saw sales drop by more than half from the week before. But proving that any publicity is good publicity, Michael Jackson's hits compilation from 2001, "Greatest Hits Vol. 1, HIStory" (Epic), returned to the chart at No. 144, selling 8,000 copies.
The heavily publicized AC/DC re-issues made a considerable dent in the catalog chart, with "Back in Black" leading the charge. The album debuted at No. 6, selling more than 8,000 units. Five other AC/DC discs debuted in the Top 50 on the catalog chart.
Next week will reveal sales spikes for performers and winners at the 45th annual Grammy Awards, certainly for Jones, Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks' "Home," which this week was No. 4, and Coldplay.
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