Lady Antebellum's sophomore album took the country by storm, as 'Need You Now' is currently the No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Lady A's album debuted with 481,000 copies sold, making 'Need You Now' the highest-selling country album since Taylor Swift's 2008 'Fearless,' which debuted at No. 1 with 592,000 copies sold. 'Need You Now''s opening week sales are also the highest for an album released in January since the Game's 'The Documentary,' which reached No. 1 in 2005 with 587,000 copies sold. The album's title track -- released Aug. 24 -- has spent the last five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart , eventually shifting over to pop radio. Just last week they pulled a Taylor Swift and released a 2010 pop mix version, which has been playing on top 40 radio stations and even made AOL Radio's Best Songs of 2010.
Other new arrivals on the Billboard 200 this week are Barry Manilow's 'The Greatest Love Song of All Time' (featuring songs by legendary lyricists Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Burt Bacharach and more) at No. 5 with 57,000 copies sold, Corinne Bailey Rae's soulful sophomore album 'The Sea' at No. 7 with 53,000 copies sold and Celtic Woman's fifth studio album 'Songs From the Heart,' debuting at No. 9 with 42,000 copies sold.
The digital-exclusive charity album 'Hope for Haiti Now' dropped to No. 2 with 143,000 (last week they debuted with 171,000). Susan Boyle's 'I Dreamed a Dream' slid slightly to No. 4 with 59,000 and Lady Gaga's 'The Fame' holds the No. 3 position again this week with 68,000.
We should expect to see an influx on current Billboard charted albums by Grammy-performed artists next week, due to the Grammy Award ceremony last Sunday. Stay tuned.
1. lady Antebellum Need You Now is great!
Posted at 12:34PM on Feb 28th 2010 by shirley