Chicks’ Super Bowl Spike Brings Up Sales
The Super Bowl might just be a chicks’ game after all.
The Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain both scored major sales spikes last week thanks to their January 26 Super Bowl appearances. With nearly 138 million people tuning in to see the Buccaneers wallop the Raiders, the Dixie Chicks, who opened the San Diego-based Bowl with an a cappella national anthem, saw their Home climb three spots to number one. Halftime performer Shania Twain Up!, meanwhile, was also way up, rentering the Top 10 at eight. Both albums previously debuted at number one in 2002.
For the week ended February 2, Home sold 104,000 copies, up 17,000 copies, according to SoundScan data. Up! one-upped that, jumping 20,000 copies to 67,000.
Other Bowl bumps went to No Doubts’ Rock Steady (up 17 spots to number 81), Celine Dion A New Day Has Come (up four to 66) and Santana’s Shaman (up two to 22).
The Chicks–who said the hardest part of their performance was “trying to find good babysitters on Super Bowl Sunday!”–can expect another sales spike next week as the Texas trio hits Saturday Night Live over the weekend. (Meanwhile, E! will premiere The Dixie Chicks Revealed February 19 at 10 p.m., just before the threesome compete at the 2003 Grammy Awards, where they’re up for four trophies, including Album of the Year for Home.)
Bowl talk aside, the week’s highest charting debut belonged to Zwan, the new group fronted by former Smashing Pumpkins’ dictator Billy Corgan. His latest offering, Mary Star of the Sea, sold 90,000 copies to open at number three.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Kid Rock’s Cocky continued its strong comeback, holding tight at number seven, the album’s peak position in its 63 weeks on the charts. Coincidentally, the Kid’s commercial single for “Picture,” which spurred the comeback, held at number one for a forth-straight week.
The rest of the Top 10 consisted of Norah Jones Come Away with Me at number two, Avril Lavigne Let Go at four, Jennifer Lopez This Is Me…Then at five, the Chicago soundtrack at six, Missy Elliott’s Under Construction at nine and the 8 Mile soundtrack at 10.
The Bible Belt also scored big, as three of the best debuts on the album charts came from Christian artists. Leading the way was CBA superstar Steven Curtis Chapman, whose All About Love sold a thumping 51,000 copies at number 12. Gospel giant Bill Gaither followed with two new Gaither Gospel Series discs–Heaven and Going Home–at 55 and 64, respectively.
Back among the heathens, U.S. guitarist Ry Cooder and Cuban fret legend Manuel Galban landed at 52 with their collaborative release Mambo Sinuendo. Other notable new releases included the Absolute Body compilation at 73, Glen Campbell All the Best at 89, Al Green’s Love Songs Collection at 91 and Erasure’s covers album, Other People’s Songs, at 138. Finally, three years after its theatrical release, the follow-up soundtrack More Songs from Coyote Ugly managed a sobering debut at 144.
Among albums on the upswing, t.A.T.u.’s fast-climbing 200 Km/H In the Wrong Lane leapt 77 spots to number 33 in the past two weeks. The duo–two teen lesbian lovers from Russia–benefited from their hit single “All the Things She Said.” Stalin would be proud.
Looking toward next week’s charts, rapper 50 Cent moved the release of his hyped Get Rich or Die Tryin’ up four days to Thursday because of bootlegging. That means its chart debut will come a week earlier. The much anticipated album is a joint-release on Dr. Dre’s Aftermath and Eminem Shady Records.
Here’s a recap of the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday:
1. Home, Dixie Chicks
2. Come Away with Me, Norah Jones
3. Mary Star of the Sea, Zwan
4. Let Go, Avril Lavigne
5. This Is Me…Then, Jennifer Lopez
6. Chicago soundtrack, various
7. Cocky, Kid Rock
8. Up!, Shania Twain
9. Under Construction, Missy Elliott
10. 8 Mile soundtrack, various
David Jenison