The Set List

Little Treasures Within SoundScan's Top 200

Nielsen SoundScan's chart saw a slew of debuts Wednesday as the Sept. 25 release date was the last Tuesday within the Grammy eligibility period and the the last release date before the start of the fourth quarter. Top 200 boasted 45 debuts.
Chart also revealed:
Country fans like their CDs.Only 8% of the 547,000 copies sold of Rascal Flatts' "Still Feels Good" were digital downloads, and that was still a record amount (44,000).
Rap records struggle to not lose more than 60% of their business in the second week. Latest victim: Chamillionaire, who sold 27,000 and slid to No. 30 from No. 8.
Black Eyed Peas fans don't feel that strongly about the group's leader, will.i.am, who sold a mere 21,000 copies of his first solo disc despite considerable publicity for the disc.
Selling a song to a ubiquitous commercial yields album sales. Feist's "Reminder," featuring "1,2,3,4" that plays over and over on Apple's video nano ad, rose eight slots to No. 28 on a 33% sales spike.
Steve Earle's first album since he moved to New York City, Washington Square Serenade," sold 10,000 copies.
Cult heroes Devendra Banhart sold 6,000 albums as did Jose Gonzalez's "In Our Nature" and Herbie Hancock's interpretations of Joni Mitchell songs, "River: The Joni Letters." Iron & Wine, though, may have leapfrogged into the mainstream, selling 32,000 copies of "Shepherd's Dog."
Ingrid Michaelson, a musician with 3 million plays on her MySpace page who recently snared a placement on "Grey's Anatomy," saw her "Girls & Boys" crack the chart, selling 4,000 copies to open at No. 166.

will.i.am Solo Debut Timed For Awards Season

This year's Grammy Awards have a new major contender: will.i.am.
The first solo album from the Black Eyed Peas mastermind, "Songs About Girls," will be released  Sept. 25. That release date, as we have noted, is the last Tuesday before the cut-off for Grammy eligibility.
The first single, “I Got It From My Mama,” is being released  to Top 40 and Rhythm Crossover radio  this week. 
Will described the album to Rolling Stone as “Boy meets girl.  Boy gets girl.  Boy goes to strip club.  Boy gets caught cheating.  Girl leaves.  Boy and girl somehow get back together.”
The album has only one special guest: Snoop Dogg, who is featured on “Donque.”
Will explains: “I didn’t want to come out and say, ‘Hey, I’m a producer and here are all my friends.’I wanted to be my own man and do my own thing and really try out some ideas that have been bubbling in my head.”