SoundScan and Billboard have ruined the trivia question I posted the other day by making exclusive releases eligible for the publication's main album sales chart.
With Billboard's policy altered Tuesday afternoon, Nielsen SoundScan paved the way to make the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden” the official No. 1 album in the country.
The first Eagles studio album in 28 years, which has sold 711,000 copies since its release Oct. 30, had not been  eligible for the SoundScan chart due to its availability only at a single retailer, Wal-Mart, and its associated outlets. SoundScan and Billboard, both of which are owned by Nielsen Co., will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on the published charts, effective this week.
Britney Spears' "Blackout" (Jive), which would have been No. 1 prior to the policy change, will open at No. 2 with first-week sales of 290,000 copies.

Carrie Underwood's label wants the world to see her as a newly accepted member of the country sorority and not the winner of some new-fangled sining competition. The achievements of her opening week sales of "Carnival Ride" are all tied to its place in the country pantheon: Did you know it's the best-selling first week of any country sophomore album since the inception of SoundScan and the largest country debut in digital album chart history, with digital sales of 44,928?
But to many, she will always be the top idol of the American Idols, who now must all look up to her as the single most popular winner.
Underwood's "Carnival Ride" sold 527,00 copies in its first week and when combined with the opening week of her debut, "Some Hearts," Underwood has the highest collective total of opening week sales for any "Idol" finalist. Sure it's a stretch but there has to be a way to get Clay Aiken's name off one record. Underwood's combined first week sales are 842,000, besting season two runner-up Aiken's total of 808,000. "Carnival Ride" saw a 40% spike over the debut week sales (315,000) of "Some Hearts."
Every other "Idol" champ has seen their tally dip when the second album is released.
Kelly Clarkson
"Thankful" - Released April 15, 2003 – 297,000
"Breakaway" – Nov. 30, 2004 – 250,000
Ruben Studdard
"Soulful" – Dec. 9, 2003 - 417,000
I Need an Angel – Nov. 23, 2004 - 96,000
Fantasia
"Free Yourself" – Nov. 23, 2004 - 240,000
" Fantasia" – Dec. 12, 2006 - 113,000

No surprise in the Nielsen SoundScan chart as Bruce Springsteen takes No. 1 and third quarter releases start to fade.
50 Cent's "Curtis" has fallen out of the top 10 to No. 17 in its fourth week; Barry Manilow's "Greatest Songs of the Seventies" has gone from a No. 4 debut to No. 41 in three weeks; and Iron & Wine's "Shepherd's Dog"plummeted 30 slots to No. 54 in its second stanza.
Besides strong showings for the strong album from Springsteen and the ferociously fine John Fogerty effort "Revival," some other good albums made their debuts in the lower reaches oft he chart.
PJ Harvey's "White Chalk" sold 13,000 copies to open at No. 65.
The Cult's return, "Born Into This," started at No. 70, also selling 13,000.
Greatest hits sets from Mick Jagger (No. 77) and Chicago (No. 100) sold 12,000 and 8,000, respectively.
And Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings's "100 Days 100 Nights" sold 4,000 to premiere at No. 194. The Dap-Kings, out of Brooklyn, work as Amy Winehouse's band in the States.Would Ms. Winehouse ever dare to let Ms. Jones open a show for her and take the chance of being blown off the stage?

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.

News from the deeper reaches of Nielsen SoundScan's top 200.
While all the yammering was about Kanye West and 50 Cent setting records, there were records being by artists who get no airplay and generally sell albums by getting good reviews.
Hot Hot Heat's "Happiness LTD." sold 7,000 copies to open at No. 85; Ani DiFranco's two-CD career overview "Canon," also sold 7,000 (No. 88); and the Go! Team's "Proof of Youth" moved more than 4,000 (No. 141). The Good Life's "Help Wanted Nights" sold more than 3,000 to open at No. 194.

Universal Music Group is a mighty proud parent today, celebrating the sales successes of Kanye West and 50 Cent.
The company proudly touts:
that it is the first music company ever to have a current market share of more than 50% (50.94%) and and the highest ever overall market share of 43.17%. (That one broke UMG's old record of 37.78% from Nov. 14, 2004);
its highest current digital album market share (49.67%);
the highest No. 1 and No. 2 debut combination ever in the SoundScan era (since 1991);
seven titles in the top 10, counting its distribution deal with Disney.
The number that isn't making into the headlines though is the number 9, as in overall sales this week were 9% less than the same week last year: 9.2 million vs. 10.1 million in 2006.
The major sellers making top 10 debuts last year? Beyonce, Audioslave and, believe it or not, Iron Maiden.

From the land of "as expected,"  Kanye West  is ahead of  50 Cent as sales of their new albums are being tallied.  West is on target with projections; 50 is behind. And Kenny Chesney is proving to be not much of a threat.

"Forever Cool," the Capitol/EMI release pairing Dean Martin's vocals in duet form with 14 other artists, sold 17,000 copies to debut at No. 39.
Disc was bolstered by programs at iTunes, Borders and Amazon.com; Yahoo! Music attracted 1 million visitors when it premiered the music video featuring "American Idol" finalist Paris Bennett singing “Baby-O” with Dino.
Thirty years ago, Dino and Ol' Blue Eyes delivered this show:
Martin: When You're Drinkin' / Bourbon From Heaven / Bad, Bad Leroy Brown / Welcome To My World /That's Amore
Sinatra: For Once In My Life / I Love My Wife / It Was A Very Good Year / One For My Baby / My Way

Dean & Frank: Medley of I Can't Give You Anyting But Love, My Kind Of Town, Pennies From Heaven, A Foggy Day, Embraceable You, The Lady Is A Tramp, Where Or When, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Hey Marie, When You're Smiling

Disney's "High School Musical 2" had an opening week of 615,000 in sales and it could very well hit 3.5 million in sales by the end of the year.
Using the sales pattern of Disney's "Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus" disc, and accounting for a holiday season boost and the inevitable "deluxe package," it is highly likely that Disney will have two or three of the 10 best-sellers of the year.(Rascal Flatts has a release slated for Sept. 25; "Hannah Montana 2" should easily top 2 million in sales this year).
"Hannah 2," released June 26, experienced a 42% drop-off in its second week, a 32% dip in the third and 12% dip in the fourth. It has held steady at about 30%-35% of its opening week number over the last several weeks.
"HSM2," by that logic, should pass the 1 million sold mark next week and then take about five sales weeks to lock in another million.
By that point the disc will be swimming in a sea of high profile releases and will likely taper off in high five digit sales for half of October and most of November. Just before Thanksgiving will be the three-month mark, just about time for Disney to come in with deluxe edition that will certainly spike sales.
The original "High School Musical" opened during the worst sales period of the year (January) with a first week tally of 16,000. Once it sold 97,000, the disc affixed itself to the top 10 and was able to compete with all-comers as the year wore, selling upwards of 200,000 to stay in the upper reaches of the chart.

Columbia Records has chosen to pit Bruce Springsteen against the return of Matchbox Twenty, Annie Lennox and Faith Hill's catalog rather than go up against the commercial juggernauts Rascal Flatts, James Blunt and the Foo Fighters.
But by choosing an Oct. 2 release date rather than Sept. 25, the first Springsteen and the E Street Band album in five years lands outside this year''s Grammy eligibility period. Even unheard, the album, with the rather dull title of "Magic," would be a prime contender for rock and general awards.
But I figure the Springsteen camp isn't about to let that happen.

The Flight of the Conchords, New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists - as they like to call themselves, sold 6,000 copies of their debut, self-titled EP in the week ended Sunday.
The duo, whose HBO show is the funniest thing on TV these days, came in at No. 126 on Nielsen Soundscan's tally. Disc features three studio tracks and two live cuts ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" and "Robots.)
Subpop will issue a full-length next year.The duo has been spending a fair amount of time in L.A. recently: Jemaine Clement was spotted at Crowded House's show at the Troubadour in late July and Bret McKenzie was in the crowd for Squeeze's show at the Greek on Monday.

The old rule of the music biz used to be that record sales drive concert sales, and vice versa.
But it’s tough these days to find an act that can deliver robust album sales and move concert tickets.
Apart from Justin Timberlake — whose “FutureSex/LoveSounds” is the seventh highest selling album of the year (998,000 copies) and whose tour is No. 2 on the concert chart ($42.3 million gross) — few acts placed prominently on both mid-year tallies.
Concert promoters will say it’s nothing new, but for more than a decade they’ve fretted about the paucity of artists  with staying power as arena or even stadium acts.

Against Me! sold one-sixth the number of albums that Interpol sold in the week ended Sunday, but in the list of indie bands making the leap to major label debut from the indie sector, the discs were one and two.
Against Me!'s "New Wave" sold 12,000 copies to debut at No. 57, according to Nielsen SoundScan.It is the Florida band's first album for Sire, part of Warner Music, and their fifth album overall. Fronted by  Tom Gabel, Against Me! made a splash in 2002 with folk punk album "Reinventing Axl Rose" on the No Idea label. Three albums on Fat Wreck Chords followed.
Butch Vig produced the new album, which boasts a much cleaner sound than the other discs, even as Gabel rails against fame and music scenes. His take on protest songs, "White People for Peace," has a cool video.

Crowded House’s new album is released today, just three days after they turned in a spectacular show at Live Earth. Their set Saturday:

Locked Out / World Where You Live / Silent House / Fall at Your Feet / Four Seasons in One Day / Don't Stop Now / Distant Sun / Don't Dream it's Over / Something So Strong / Weather With You / Better Be Home Soon

Bryan Ferry's "Dylanesque" (Virgin) sold 7,000 copies in its first week to open at No. 117.
Hard as it may be to believe, it is his best chart position since 1994's "Mamouna," which reached No. 94. Ferry, who records at a snail's pace, has issued only three albums in the last 13 years; "As Time Goes By" hit 195, and 2002's "Frantic" reached No. 189.
The most important thing he wants to fans to know, though, is that he is not a Nazi supporter.

TV appearances include a rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" on the BBC.

While America was out celebrating the Fourth of July, Nielsen SoundScan was letting them know they haven't been celebrating with the purchases of recorded music in album form. Album sales are down 15% for the six months of 2007 from the same period last year, 229.8 million sold vs. last year's tally of 270.6 million. Even when the sales of singles are totaled up and placed in an album format - every 10 singles equals a single disc - the count is down 9.2% from 2006. Digital track sales are up 49% over this time last year, hitting 417.3 million. Last year at the mid-year point, 281 million tracks had been sold. Among albums released this year Norah Jones' "Not Too Late," at 1.4 million, is the top seller, coming in second place behind "Daughtry," with 1.7 million. In third is Akon's "Konvicted" (1.3 million) and Linkin Park's "Minutes to Midnight" (1.2 million), according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While Paul McCartney was able to keep his second week dip to under 34%, Marilyn Manson's "Eat Me Drink Me" dropped a precarious 65%, selling 31,000 copies and landing at No. 30. Chris Cornell's "Carry On" took a hefty spill (56%), dropping to No. 44 from No. 17, Nielsen SoundScan reported.

Some Tony Awards watchers proceeded straight to the record stores. The cast album for "Spring Awakening," the Tony winner with music by Duncan Sheik and Steven Slater, sold 9,000 copies to head into the charts at No. 96. The Decca release's cume is 63,000.

Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" enjoyed a 10% sales bump to stay at No. 10. Other top 50 acts enjoying minor sales bumps were Michael Buble, Carrie Underwood, Fergie, Taylor Swift, Nickelback, Tim McGraw, John Mayer.

"Don't Stop Believin','" the Journey tune that closed out the final episode of "The Sopranos," sold 41,000 downloads in the week that followed. Certainly some fast-fingered folk immediately went to iTunes after Tony made his selection on the jukebox in the diner, pushing the June 10 week's download tally up to 8,500. Look at it this way: Journey sold more downloads than Jennifer Lopez did when she appeared on "American Idol."