Potentially interesting facts and theories from Thanksgiving week sales.


The American Music Awards, which has had its TV airdate moved around considerably over the last 10 years, may have had its greatest effect ever in boosting album sales. The artists booked on the AMAs are there to pitch product - in the cases of Kanye West, Taylor Swift and Beyonce it was brand new music - and nearly every performer has an album that is still receiving promotion at retail and online.
Taylor Swift's "Fearless" was up 50,000 units to 267,000 (No. 2); Pink's "Funhouse" was up 20,000 to 61,000 (No. 20); Miley Cyrus' "Breakout" was up 18,000 to 46,000 (No. 23); and the Jonas Brothers' "A Little Bit Longer" up 16,000 to 43,000 (No. 24).
Coldplay also had a new EP coming out to help, but "Viva La Vida" more than doubled its sales from the week previous and rose 29 slots (43,000; No. 25). Albums by Rihanna and Ne-Yo also enjoyed sales spikes.

TV's impact on album sales is stronger than it has ever been. Tonight's televised Grammy nominations concert should yield spikes for John Mayer, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, B.B. King and Taylor Swift. Christina Aguilera will perform, too. But unlike the others, her new release, a hits package, is available only at Target stores, leaving the average iTunes junkie with only one option - buy the new single for 99 cents rather than acquiring the CD.

Hype, "exclusive" sales tactics and a bounty of prominently displayed reviews cannot hide the fact that Axl Rose has worn out his welcome. By Guns N' Roses standards, selling 261,000 copies of "Chinese Democracy" makes it a a first-week flop. Somewhere along the way, Rose forgot that GNR was a band and that people responded to them as a unit. Now, without the great mysterious record to hang over GNR fans, is it possible Rose will just fade away?

100K club (aka, albums selling more than 100,000 copies during Thanksgiving week): 10 in 2008; 5 in 2007; 19 in 2006; 16 in 2005.

Christmas Cheer: Faith Hill's "Joy to the World" sold 73,000 (No. 17) to get its cume to 206,000, while Enya's "Winter Came" frosted 66,000 (No. 18), bringing its total to 242,000. The others in the top 50, with chart position and cume in parentheses): "Elvis Presley Christmas Duets" (No. 28, 113,000); Tony Bennett's "Swinging Christmas" (No. 31, 78,000); Harry Connick Jr.'s "What a Night!" (No. 33, 83,000); Yo-Yo Ma's "Songs of Joy & Peace" (No. 36, 136,000); "Now That's What I Call Christmas" (No. 40, 83,000). There are 17 Christmas albums between Nos. 51 and 200.

Debuts in the lower portions of the chart:
67. Paul McCartney (the Fireman) "Electric Arguments" 17,000
96. Scott Weiland "Happy in Galoshes" 11,000
105. Tom Jones "24 Hours" 9,000
174. Rivers Cuomo "Alone 2" 6,000

With "Greatest Songs of the Eighties" in stores, Barry Manilow has only one more album before Clive has to conceive a new formula for the crooner. Maybe he could cover Rod Stewart's covers.