Post by Emerald City on Nov 26, 2004 17:01:37 GMT -5
By David Jenison
Eminem has survived a date with destiny.
The hip-hopster went head-to-head with Destiny's Child, and the Shady One prevailed. For the second straight week, Eminem stood at number one as Encore sold 871,000 copies to Destiny Fulfilled's 497,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released Wednesday.
Both artists released their latest albums early to thwart online pirating. Encore racked up 710,000 in sales in just three days on the shelves to top last week's album chart and rank as the fourth-best open of the year behind Usher's Confessions (1.1 million), Norah Jones ' Feels Like Home (1.02 million), and Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying (766,000). But Em's sales for the week ended Sunday register as 2004's best week for a non-debut and third best overall. His 10-day tally is nearly 1.6 million copies.
Though Destiny's Child couldn't top the charts, the group made a considerable jump from last week, when Destiny Fulfilled moved 61,000 in just one day to debut at 19. And while the new disc didn't top the 663,000-copy open of 2001's Survivor, it did beat the combined sales of each member's solo efforts over the past two years.
Lil Jon's Crunk Juice, which also opened low on early sales, made a leap upward, climbing from 31 to number three on 363,000 copies.
American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken , who got laid up last week due to bum vocal cords, slid into the four spot as Merry Christmas with Love stuffed 270,000 stockings. Aiken, who topped the singles chart earlier this year, set the all-time Idol sales record in 2003 when Measure of a Man sold 613,000 first-week copies. His album will likely get a boost in two weeks when his NBC Christmas special airs.
Adding more hip-hop to the ho-ho-ho's, Snoop Dogg's R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece sold 225,000 copies for the six spot, while Chingy's Powerballin' rolled into the 10 spot with 120,000.
Country stars Shania Twain and Toby Keith continued to ride strong with their new hits packages, despite all the new entries. Twain's Greatest Hits sold 232,000 at five, while Keith's Greatest Hits 2 sold 221,000 at seven. Meanwhile, Britney Spears ' Greatest Hits: My Prerogative dropped from the Top 10 after just one week, tumbling to 12 on 101,000 copies.
First ever best-of sets from Pearl Jam and Neil Young debuted in the Top 40; PJ's two-disc rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003) opened at 16, and Young's Greatest Hits bowed at 27. The Beatles new four-disc box set, The Capitol Albums Vol. 1, followed at 35.
Other noteworthy new entries included Theme Addict: WWE The Music Vol. 6 at 38, the debatable 100 Million Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong at 53, Rammstein's Reise Reise at 61 and Rufus Wainwright 's Want Two at 103.
Next week, look for U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb to obliterate the competition, which includes new albums by No Doubt's Gwen Stefani , American Idols Fantasia and Ruben Studdard , and the Nirvana box set With the Lights Out.
To recap, the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday included:
1. Encore, Eminem
2. Destiny Fulfilled, Destiny's Child
3. Crunk Juice, Lil'Jon and the East Side Boyz
4. Merry Christmas with Love, Clay Aiken
5. Greatest Hits, Shania Twain
6. R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece, Snoop Dogg
7. Greatest Hits 2, Toby Keith
8. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 17, various
9. Confessions, Usher
10. Powerballin', Chingy
