Alicia Keys has earned her fifth No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with her latest, “Girl on Fire†(RCA), topping recent titles by Taylor Swift, Rod Stewart and One Direction in the relatively slow sales week after Thanksgiving.
“Girl on Fire†sold 159,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a lower opening than Ms. Keys had for any of her five previous albums, but enough to return her to the top slot. (“The Element of Freedom,†her last record, stalled at No. 2 three years ago, but otherwise all of her albums have reached No. 1.) Promotion for the album included a prominent commercial for Citigroup and a light show last week at the Empire State Building synchronized to her songs.
With no other major new releases last week, Ms. Swift's “Red†(Big Machine) held at No. 2 with 137,000 sales in its sixth week. Mr. Stewart's “Merry Christmas, Baby†(Verve) rose three spots to No. 3 wit h 117,000 sales; One Direction's “Take Me Home†(Syco/Columbia) fell one to No. 4 with 92,000; and “The World From the Side of the Moon†(19/Interscope) by the latest “American Idol†winner, Phillip Phillips also fell one, to No. 5, with 74,000 sales. Last week's No. 1 album, Rihanna's “Unapologetic†(Def Jam), dropped to No. 6 with 72,000.
Holiday albums take up the next three spots on the chart: Michael Bublé's “Christmas†(143/Reprise), released last year, is No. 7, Lady Antebellum's “On This Winter's Night†(Capitol Nashville) is No. 8, and Blake Shelton's “Cheers, It's Christmas†(Warner Brothers) is No. 9. Look for them to climb higher in the weeks to come. Kid Rock's “Rebel Soul†(Atlantic) rounds out the Top 10 this week.
The digital tracks chart shows how valuable some good TV promotion can be. Will.i.am's latest song, “Scream & Shout,†featuring Britney Spears, opened at a distant No. 66 on last week's chart, after a partial sales week. But after the song's music video had its premiere on “The X Factor†last week, it shoots to No. 1 with 196,000 downloads, bumping Psy's “Gangnam Style†to No. 2 with 143,000 sales.
