Susan Boyle's 'I Dreamed a Dream' tops U.S. album chart
12/03/2009 12:35:00 PM
kenmouse
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Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream sold 701,000 copies its first week, the biggest sales week of 2009, in another chapter to the Scottish singer's fairy-tale rise to stardom.Her debut album, which hit shelves Nov. 23, handily beat the year's previous leader, Eminem's Relapse, which racked up 608,000 copies in May, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Dream had the best-selling first week since AC/DC's Black Ice entered Billboard with 784,000 in October 2008. It's also the biggest debut by a woman since SoundScan began tabulating sales in 1991. Until now, Ashanti held the title with her 2002 eponymous debut, which sold 503,000. The only debut that has outsold Boyle's is Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, which moved 803,000 in 1993.
Boyle, 48, a church volunteer who lives with her cat, won worldwide notice after her audition on U.K. television show Britain's Got Talent, breaking YouTube records with performances of I Dreamed a Dream (from Les Misérables) and Cry Me a River.
Her voice is only one factor of her success, says Billboard chart analyst Keith Caulfield.
"It's the unlikely pop-star Cinderella story," he says. "It's so moving to a lot of people, who see something of themselves in her. They like to see the underdog achieve. You may not buy it just for the music but for the whole story, for a piece of that pop-culture moment."
Boyle's older fans, who infrequently buy music, are less likely than younger consumers to cherry-pick tracks or turn to piracy. "That's why her number looks disproportionately larger," Caulfield says. "Album sales are dreadfully lower now."
Fueling Boyle's debut was wide awareness of the album.
"You didn't have to do a lot of artist development," Caulfield says. "She's new, but everyone feels they know her. The sticker on the album cover says, 'As seen on YouTube.' There are great examples of artists who were signed or discovered thanks to MySpace or a viral network, but it's hard to think of anyone else who had such tremendous success via YouTube."
Boyle also got a boost from Thanksgiving week sales, though she faced stiff competition. American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment sold 198,000 to enter at No. 3, behind Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas (218,000). Rihanna's Rated R opened fourth with 181,000, and Lady Gaga's eight-song The Fame Monster arrived fifth with 174,000, trailed by her debut and its reissue, The Fame, with 151,000.Also new to the chart: Shakira's She Wolf, No. 15 (89,000).
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