Whitney Houston becomes the first woman to place three albums in the top 10

[jobeterob]

Billboard.comCharts News Video New Releases Live


This week, the late Whitney Houston becomes the first woman to place three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart at the same time.




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Remembering Whitney

SLIDESHOW: Her Life in Photos

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"Whitney: the Greatest Hits" holds at No. 2 with 174,000 [[down less than 1% according to Nielsen SoundScan), "The Bodyguard" soundtrack jumps 38-6 [[47,000; up 176%) and "Whitney Houston" motors 37-9 [[30,000; up 72%).



She's also found at No. 16 [["I Look to You," 19,000; up 109%), No. 30 [["My Love Is Your Love," 15,000; up 312%), No. 39 [["I'm Your Baby Tonight," 13,000; up 262%), No. 105 [["The Preacher's Wife," 5,000; down 30%), No. 126 [["Just Whitney," 4,000; up 57%), No. 133 [["Whitney," 4,000; down 43%). One more title is at No. 73. It's a three-CD bundle of "Baby," "My Love" and "Just Whitney." It sold 7,000 [[up 423%).



HOUSTON'S ALBUM SALES CLIMB



In total, for the week ending Feb. 26, Houston's albums sold 320,000 [[up up 29% compared to the previous week's haul of 247,000). She also sold 373,000 tracks this week -- down 75% compared to the week previous [[1.5 million). Since her death, she has sold 668,000 albums and 2.76 million tracks.



As physical stock of Houston's albums are finally reaching retail outlets, we see some of those older catalog sets make moves up the list. Since her death on Feb. 11, the bulk of her album sales have come from digital downloads, as most retailers didn't have physical copies of her albums on-hand.



This past week, downloads made up 8.4% of her total album sales. That's a steep drop from her digital share the week previous, when downloads were 54% of her overall album sum.



A HISTORIC TOP 10



Houston's placement of three titles in the Billboard 200's top 10 amazingly marks the first time in almost 44 years that an act has accomplished the feat.



The last time an act scored three simultaneous top 10 sets was on July 6, 1968, when Simon & Garfunkel were at Nos. 1, 2 and 10. That week, "Bookends" was tops, followed by "The Graduate" soundtrack in the runner-up slot and "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" at No. 10.



Billboard launched its first all-encompassing pop albums chart on Aug. 17, 1963 -- which combined both mono and stereo albums. Previously, we had separate tallies for mono and stereo recordings.



Since then, aside from Houston and Simon & Garfunkel, the only other acts to net three albums in the top 10 at the same time were the Beatles; Peter, Paul & Mary and Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass. [[All did it on various weeks between 1964 and 1966).



Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass holds the record for the most concurrent top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, with four [[April 4, 1966).



DON'T FORGET THE KING OF POP & THE FAB FOUR



Presently, the Billboard 200 ranks the week's biggest-selling albums in the U.S. -- regardless of their age. Thus, this is why Houston's self-titled 1985 debut is among more recently-released in the top 10 this week.



However, as of the chart dated Dec. 5, 2009, the Billboard 200 altered its rules to let older albums -- also known as "catalog" titles -- to chart alongside newer releases.



Thus, it must be noted that had the Billboard 200 allowed catalog albums to chart previous to then, both Michael Jackson and the Beatles would have claimed three simultaneous top 10 titles that year.



On the now-defunct Top Comprehensive Albums chart [[which ranked both new and old albums), Michael Jackson posthumously notched three or more of the top 10 for seven different weeks after his death on June 25. For two of those frames [[July 25 and Aug. 1) he owned an incredible six of the top 10 best-selling albums of the week.



Later that year, on Sept. 26, 2009, after the Beatles' reissued and remastered its studio albums on CD, the fab four earned five of the top 10.

[timmyfunk]

Three albums in the top 10, postumously. Did someone say.....POP STAR!?

[abfan]

Funk, Are you bored or something..Your just going from one Whitney thread to Another saying the same thing,,,

[timmyfunk]

Funk, Are you bored or something..Your just going from one Whitney thread to Another saying the same thing,,,

Yeah....it's called facts. Something no one should have a problem with.

[daddyacey]

You know I'm a bit puzzled why that when an artist passes ,the sales go up. I mean if one was a fan or follower of said artists work ,they should have them in some form or another in thier collection. They may count for maybe half of lets say 33% to 50% of the increased sales of output ,counting those updating or filling in holes in the collection. Another 25% that are just getting into that artist and the balance just buying because of the media attention/hype. Seems like an artist can either be the best New or current attraction when alive and veiwed as one of the greatest in death.

[timmyfunk]

You know I'm a bit puzzled why that when an artist passes ,the sales go up. I mean if one was a fan or follower of said artists work ,they should have them in some form or another in thier collection. They may count for maybe half of lets say 33% to 50% of the increased sales of output ,counting those updating or filling in holes in the collection. Another 25% that are just getting into that artist and the balance just buying because of the media attention/hype. Seems like an artist can either be the best New or current attraction when alive and veiwed as one of the greatest in death.

That situation has always been a head scratcher for me as well. The vast majority of artists that close to my heart were in my collection long before they made their transition, including Gil Scott-Heron, Teena Marie, and even Michael Jackson. Though I will admit that I snatched up a lot Beatles after Lennon's death.

[reese]

You know I'm a bit puzzled why that when an artist passes ,the sales go up. I mean if one was a fan or follower of said artists work ,they should have them in some form or another in thier collection. They may count for maybe half of lets say 33% to 50% of the increased sales of output ,counting those updating or filling in holes in the collection. Another 25% that are just getting into that artist and the balance just buying because of the media attention/hype. Seems like an artist can either be the best New or current attraction when alive and veiwed as one of the greatest in death.

I would suspect that the spurt in sales is mostly from casual fans and maybe devoted fans who might be looking for something new or to replace something they already have. With the deceased artist back in the news again, it could make one want to get something. The same thing happened a few weeks back when Etta James passed.

The day after Whitney's funeral, a friend of mine and I went to J&R's in NYC. They had most of Whitney's cds and soundtracks right in front, and it made my friend want to purchase something. Of course, just a week before, he probably wouldn't have even thought about it. I already have all of her cds, but I looked through her section anyway. If they had put out something rare, I know I would have bought it.

The only time I did something like this was when Phyllis Hyman died. I always liked her voice, but never bought any of her recordings. But after she passed, I bought a two-disc compilation. I must confess that I only played it once.

[jobeterob]

I agree; the sales spurts have little to do with the fans.

It has to do with casual buyers and the increased publicity. It is the people that have 1 CD that are buying; it is the people that don't have any of her CDS but heard her name on the news again.

It does again highlight how artists sold so much in the 90's and now most of the CDs appearing between #100 and 200 on the Billboard Chart are selling a few thousand copies.

My understanding is that Billboard dropped it's comprehensive chart a few years back and now allows any CD regardless of age to chart on the Top 200. If they didn't make that change and charted only current product, you were going to get on the Top 200 selling 500 copies.

[timmyfunk]

I would suspect that the spurt in sales is mostly from casual fans and maybe devoted fans who might be looking for something new or to replace something they already have. With the deceased artist back in the news again, it could make one want to get something. The same thing happened a few weeks back when Etta James passed.

The day after Whitney's funeral, a friend of mine and I went to J&R's in NYC. They had most of Whitney's cds and soundtracks right in front, and it made my friend want to purchase something. Of course, just a week before, he probably wouldn't have even thought about it. I already have all of her cds, but I looked through her section anyway. If they had put out something rare, I know I would have bought it.

The only time I did something like this was when Phyllis Hyman died. I always liked her voice, but never bought any of her recordings. But after she passed, I bought a two-disc compilation. I must confess that I only played it once.

I bought Phyllis Hyman's You Know How To Love Me CD way after she passed on. It will always remain one of my favorite dance tracks of 1979. But I feel that even if I saw Whitney's collection prominently displayed in a record store, I'll still bypass it. I've heard more Whitney than anyone ever should.

[soulster]

Yeah....it's called facts. Something no one should have a problem with.

We know she's a pop star, and we know you don't care for pop music, but why keep beating the dead horse?

[timmyfunk]

We know she's a pop star, and we know you don't care for pop music, but why keep beating the dead horse?

Nobody is beating the dead horse. I merely used this thread to confirm my point in the other thread. And my Beatles collection would probably contradict that supposed dislike for pop music. So let's refrain from assumptions, OK?