Thursday 22 May 2008

Diva smackdown ends with ingenues on rise

It was billed as the Great Diva Smackdown of '08. In the space of just nine weeks, three of the biggest female stars of the rock era - Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Madonna - released new studio albums. It was like three summer blockbusters hitting your local multiplex in a nine-week span, with the added (and admittedly sexist and sophomoric) appeal of an all-star catfight. Meow!

So who made the most divalicious showing? All three albums - Jackson's Discipline, Carey's E=MC2 and Madonna's Hard Candy - debuted at #1, though only Carey's improved on the opening-week sales performance of her previous studio album. (Indeed, Carey had the biggest opening of her career.) Also, only Carey's album managed to hold on to the #1 spot for a second week. Indeed, at least at this early stage, Carey's album has sold more copies than Madonna's and Jackson's albums combined.

In terms of raw numbers, E=MC2 has sold 887,000 copies in its first five weeks, making it the #3 best-seller so far in 2008. Hard Candy has sold 428,000 copies after three weeks, putting it 22nd for the year. Discipline has sold 385,000 copies after 12 weeks, putting it 26th. (Divalicious? That's divalousy - though Jackson is launching a tour in September that should give the album a second wind.)

The outcome has been similar on the digital download front, though here Madonna is out front. "4 Minutes", the pop icon's collaboration with Justin Timberlake, has sold 1,429,000 downloads in nine weeks. Carey's "Touch My Body" has sold 970,000 in eight weeks. Jackson's "Feedback" slips out of the top 200 this week, after selling 608,000 in its first 19 weeks.

But now that the diva derby is moving into the follow-up singles phase I can't help noticing that several ingénues are moving up on these long-established pop queens. Leona Lewis' Spirit has sold 618,000 copies in six weeks, putting it #8 for the year-to-date. Four other debut albums by young female artists rank among the top 30 of 2008. (All four albums were released prior to this year, but this ranking counts only sales since Jan. 1.) Taylor Swift's Taylor Swift is #5, Sara Bareilles' Little Voice is #12, Colbie Caillat's Coco is #16 and Jordin Sparks' Jordin Sparks is #30. And Duffy may well join them on that list. Her Rockferry opens at #4 on this week's chart.

(Yahoo! Music)



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