For the second week in a row, Susan Boyle and Andrea Bocelli are holding down the top two spots on the Billboard 200.
After selling an unprecedented 700,000 copies of I Dreamed A Dream in its first week of release, Boyle followed by selling an equally impressive 527,000 albums last week. Her two-week sales of nearly 1.25 million records make the Britain's Got Talent runner-up's platinum debut the fastest-selling album of 2009, according to figures released by Neilsen SoundScan.
Andrea Bocelli moved more than 428,000 copies of his My Christmas offering, which has been certified platinum in only five weeks after topping the 1.1 million mark. He also sold more than 6,000 copies of his Spanish version of the album, Mi Navidad, which has sold 11,500 copies since it's release two weeks ago.
R&B superstar R. Kelly was the only debut to crack this week's Top 10, landing at No. 4 after selling 114,000 copies of Untitled. The next-best selling debut was the Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel soundtrack, which moved more than 38,000 units and debuted at No. 25.
The rest of the Top 10 will likely look pretty familiar through the holiday season, as Taylor Swift's Fearless and Lady Gaga's The Fame climb to No. 3 and 5 respectively. Swift sold more than 127,000 albums, and Gaga sold 83,500 copies of her debut, which was recently re-packaged with her new EP The Fame Monster. The eight-track EP sold 65,000 copies on its own this week, and occupies lucky No. 13 on the chart.
American Idol champion-turned-country superstar Carrie Underwood is No. 6 on this week's chart, selling nearly 81,000 copies of her new album Play On. She could see a sales boost after her prime-time special Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special aired earlier this week on FOX.
Norah Jones rose three spots to No. 7, selling more than 80,000 copies of The Fall, with the rest of the Top 10 being occupied by re-entries - Michael Jackson's This is It soundtrack sold 75,000 copies, The Twilight Saga: New Moon sountrack moved 72,000, and Michael Buble's Crazy Love sold 71,800.
Adam Lambert suffered the most significant sales drop of any Top 200 artist, his For Your Entertainment debut slipping 74-percent in sales, from 200,000 in its first week to 50,000 last week. He fell from No. 3 to No. 19 on the chart.
Rihanna suffered a 67-percent second-week drop with Rated R, slipping from No. 4 to No. 14 with sales of 59,000.
John Mayer followed at No. 15, selling 57,000 copies of new release Battle Studies and moving his three-week total to 435,000. Sting's holiday album If On A Winter's Night enjoyed a 43-percent sales spike to No. 17, moving 54,559 copies, and pushing his total to 311,502 since the album's release six weeks ago.
The Black Eyed Peas closed out the Top 20, selling 49,575 copies of The E.N.D. and bringing the album's total sales to 1.5 million.
BILLBOARD 200 Top 10 Albums
(week ending December 6, chart position based on sales data collected by Neilsen SoundScan)
1. Susan Boyle I Dreamed A Dream (527,345 sold; 1,224,196 total)
2. Andrea Bocelli My Christmas (428,351; 1,115,419)
3. Taylor Swift Fearless (127,226; 4,637,608)
4. R. Kelly Untitled (114,172)
5. Lady Gaga Fame (83,550; 1,893,336)
6. Carrie Underwood Play On (80,789; 737,131)
7. Norah Jones The Fall (80,207; 370,880)
8. Michael Jackson's This is It Motion Picture Soundtrack (75,093; 965,474)
9. The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack (72,198; 712,018)
10. Michael Buble Crazy Love (71,811; 818,169)
LINK: Billboard 200 Top 20 Albums slideshow
LINK: Billboard 200 album chart for week ending December 6, 2009
CHART DEBUTS
R. Kelly (4), Alvin & the Chipmunks (25), Allison Iraheta (31), Juvenile (43), Enya (47, 136), The Bravery (103), Thalia (125), Jenni Rivera (135), Cosculluela (138), Gift Wrapped... (145), Just Dance Vol. 2 (182).
Follow Examiner National Music Writer Paul Gargano on Twitter: @PaulGargano
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