Wednesday 30 July 2008

Miley Cyrus' <i>Breakout</i> Bows At #1 But Doesn't Come Close To Lil Wayne's Million

When the world's most famous 15-year-old releases a record, chances are it's going to sell like ice cream in hell. So, heading into this week, it was pretty much a given that Miley Cyrus' first studio album not to feature the words "Hannah" or "Montana" in the title would open as the nation's best-selling release on next week's Billboard albums sales chart. The one thing no one could predict, however, was exactly how many copies Breakout would end up selling.

The answer, according to Nielsen SoundScan sales figures, is: not nearly as many as you might imagine. Given the fact that Cyrus' visage graces the T-shirts of millions of tween girls and her Disney Channel series has accrued a rabid following, you'd have thought Breakout would crush the 1 million-plus sales generated by Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, 2008's biggest first-week performer. But it didn't even come close.

The teen star's second #1 debut — Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus put up week-one sales of 326,000 last summer — sold close to 371,400 copies during its first week on store shelves. For Cyrus, selling 371,400 records is still a tremendous achievement, especially for someone so new to the music industry. In fact, Breakout is the second-biggest seller of any release from a female artist this year, right behind the 463,000 Mariah Carey's E=MC2 sold during its first week of commercial availability. And as past Disney-associated releases have shown, Cyrus' record could end up being a grower, and not a first-week sales shower.

Country act Sugarland's Love on the Inside is a distant #2 with 313,600 debut-week scans. Those weren't the week's sole newcomers to the top 200, just the only two to crack the top 10. They join the "Mamma Mia" soundtrack at #3 (with 168,000 sold); Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus at #4 (92,800); Wayne's Tha Carter III at #5 (85,200); Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends at # 6 (74,700); the "Camp Rock" soundtrack at #7 (66,600); Nas' Untitled at #8 (63,300); Now That's What I Call Music!, Vol. 28 at #9 (37,000); and Taylor Swift's Beautiful Eyes at #10 (35,100).

There are 18 other new releases to discuss, including Nine Inch Nails' Slip, which enters the chart at #13 after selling 29,100 copies. The self-titled debut EP from One Day As a Lion, the latest project from Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha, follows NIN at #28, scanning 17,200 copies its first week in stores. Candlebox return at #32 with Into the Sun, which generated sales of 14,400, while R&B singer Noel Gourdin's After My Time follows at #36, with debut-week sales of 13,700. U2's Live From Paris bows at #54, scanning 10,200 copies, and Counting Crows' Live From Soho enters at #66, with 8,600 sold. Slightly Stoopid's Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid enters at #73 with 8,200 scans, and Pepper's Pink Crustaceans takes the #83 spot, selling 7,400.

The Classic Crime's Silver Cord enters the chart at #123, after selling 5,800 units, while the Black Kids' Partie Traumatic follows at #127, with 5,500 sold. Hell Rell's Black Mask, Black Gloves: The Ruga Edition debuts at #131, thanks to 5,400 scans. Sky Eats Airplane's self-titled offering fills the #172 slot with 4,000 copies snatched up. Austrian Death Machine's Total Brutal follows at #179, with 3,700 sold. Lastly, coming in at #189 with 3,400 scans, is CSS' Donkey.

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