Ouch. She couldn’t do it again.
Despite early projections — which, based on first-day sales figures, had beleaguered pop star’ first studio LP in four years opening at #1 on next week’s Billboard albums chart — it simply wasn’t meant to be. That’s thanks to an 11th-hour reversal of Billboard’s policy to not include albums sold exclusively through one retailer in the top 200 (see “Britney Spears’ Blackout Denied #1 Debut On Billboard Chart After Last-Minute Rule Change”).
Instead, the’ first studio LP in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden, will take the chart’s peak position, with sales of nearly 711,000 copies, despite only being sold in Wal-Mart. That more than doubles the 290,000 scans generated by Spears’ Blackout, which fell more than 40,000 short of experts’ earliest sales estimates. Eden is the Eagles’ first release — apart from a few compilations — to debut at #1 since the mostly live Hell Freezes Over, which also entered on top back in 1994, with 266,700 copies sold. Eden is the band’s sixth release to bow at #1, and one of 2007’s best debuts, joining’s Graduation (957,000).
So rather than score the fifth #1 debut of her career, Spears finds herself in a position she’s never been in before: second place. Before Blackout’s release, all four of Brit’s previous outings debuted at #1: 1999’s … Baby One More Time (with 120,600 sold), 2000’s Oops! ..
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. I Did It Again (with 1.3 million), 2001’s Britney (with 745,700) and 2003’s In the Zone (609,400).
But Brit and the Eagles weren’t the only newcomers to next week’s chart. In fact, four other new albums will enter the top 10, and in all, 22 LPs will enter this latest chart, during what was a rather strong week for record sales, according to the latest SoundScan totals.
Following Britney at #4, with 93,800 copies snatched up during week one, is the latest eponymous offering from California rockers, Unbreakable. The band’s previous offerings fared better, for the most part. While 1997’s Backstreet Boys debuted at #29 with 40,000 scanned, 1999’s Millennium took the #1 spot with 1.2 million sold, and 2000’s Black and Blue also opened at #1, selling 1.6 million. The band’s 2005 LP, Never Gone, entered at #3 with 291,000 sold.
Underwood’s Carnival Ride is wedged between Brit and Avenged Sevenfold at #3, with sales of 170,100, and at #6, it’s Raising Sand, a collaborative offering from’ Still Feels Good rounds things out at #10, with 53,200 copies flying off store shelves.
Elsewhere on the chart, V Is for Vagina, the long-awaited debut album from.
