J-Banks

The Charts: R. Kelly Takes His Throne At No. 1 For The Sixth Time
Published: Thursday - June 7, 2007

The King of R&B still has it. With this latest album, Double Up, R. Kelly managed to find himself atop the Billboard 200 for his sixth chart-topping debut of his 15-plus-year career.

The new album seated Kellz at the no. 1 spot, moving 386,000 copies of the Jive set, thanks heavily in part to his smash single, "I'm A Flirt," which peaked at no. 2 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Although this is his sixth no. 1 album, each of his 10 studio albums have reached either the no. 1 or 2 slots on the charts, aside from his 1992 debut, Born Into The '90s, which debuted at no. 42.

In 1995, his self-titled R. Kelly opened at no. 1 with 248,000 scans; 1998's R. debuted at no. 2 with sales of nearly 216,000; TP-2.com opened with more than 543,000 copies in 2000 for a no. 1; 2003's Chocolate Factory followed with 532,000 units; 2004's Happy People / U Saved Me took no. 2 on 403,000 copies sold; and 2005's TP-3: Reloaded racked up sales of 490,000-plus to grab another no. 1. Even the singer's collaborative effort with Jay-Z, 2002's The Best of Both Worlds, debuted at no. 2.

Aside from Kellz, there weren't any other new releases that cracked the top 200. But many managed to stay within those top spots.

Amy Winehouse's Back To Black returned to the top 10, sliding in at no. 6, moving ahead five spots with 50,000 more copies of her album this week. The debut offering from Young Jeezy's latest CTE project, U.S.D.A., a collaborative effort between Jeezy, and associates Slick Pulla and Blood Raw, fell from no. 4 last week to no. 7 this week with Young Jeezy Presents U.S.D.A.: Cold Summer, ending the with nearly 50,000 sales as well.

Like Winehouse, Robin Thicke managed to jump ahead of the pack, as his latest single, "Can You Believe" helps -- in addition to his appearance on "Oprah" -- his Evolution Of Robin Thicke shoot up to no. 12 from last week's spot at no. 30, moving 45,300 discs this wee, giving him a 137% sales boost.

After debuting at no. 17 last week, Foxx, Lil Boosie and Webbie's Survival of The Fittest plunged to no. 35 with just 16,100 copies of the compilation this week.

At no. 13 is Ne-Yo with his sophomore effort, Because Of You, moving another 40,500 CDs this week, putting his album at the gold-selling mark. While singer Tank comes in no. 16 with Sex, Love & Pain, recording 31,900 copies this week in its third week on the charts.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Strength & Loyalty sold 31,300 units this week, enough to give them the no. 17 position, bringing their four week total to 237,500.

Others on the charts this week include Akon with Konvicted at no. 21 with 27,600 sold this week; Justin Timberlake's Future Sex/Love Sounds at no. 25 with 22,100 copies this week; Bobby Valentino's Special Occasion at no. 32 with 17,300 units; and Corrine Bailey Rae's self-titled album at no. 3, scanning another 16,600 albums.

According to Billboard.com, album sales are down less than 1% from last week's total at 8.31 million units and down 10.6% compared to the same week last year.

Source-ballerstatus

__________________

JBanksblog.com - check it out
__________________