"Little" takes Jonas Bros. to top of album chart
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Boy-band rock trio the Jonas Brothers have landed atop the U.S. album chart for the first time with their third full-length release, "A Little Bit Longer."
The Hollywood Records album bows with sales of 525,000 copies in the U.S. for the week ended August 17, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That gives it the third-highest sales figure of 2008, behind Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" (1,006,000) and Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends"
(721,000).
The sibling group also scores the rare feat of having two albums simultaneously in the uppermost echelon of the Billboard 200. In its 54th chart week, their self-titled sophomore set rises from No. 11 to No. 10 with sales of 31,000 (a 4 percent drop). It's the first time a group has scored two concurrent top 10 albums since 'N Sync did so on the chart dated January 2, 1999, with "Home for Christmas" at No. 10 and "'N Sync" at No. 2.
The soundtrack to the Disney film "Camp Rock," which stars the Jonas Brothers, stays put at No. 8 for a second week with sales of 50,000 (a 6 percent gain).
This week, Nos. 1 through 7 have all spent time in the penthouse on the big chart, a first since Billboard began publishing its pop albums chart in 1963.
Last week's chart-topper, the soundtrack to "Mamma Mia!," slides to No. 2 with 110,000 (dropping 16 percent), as Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus" experiences a 12 percent sales surge to 101,000, climbing from No. 4 to No. 3. Miley Cyrus' "Breakout," slips from second position to No. 4 on a 17 percent sales decline to 85,000.
Selling 67,000 (a slide of 27 percent), Sugarland's "Love on the Inside" falls from No. 3 to No. 5. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" descends one notch to No. 6 with 62,000, and "Viva La Vida" follows suit, moving 50,000 on a 10 percent decline and slipping from No. 6 to No. 7. Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad" keeps the No. 9 spot warm for a second week after a 3 percent decline to 42,000.
Only three other albums debut inside the top 50 on the Billboard 200 for the week. Daddy Yankee's soundtrack to "Talento de Barrio" sells 26,000 copies to land at No. 13. Yung Berg's "Look What You Made Me" starts at No. 20 with 19,000.
At No. 22 with 19,000, New Kids on the Block return with "Greatest Hits." The set doesn't contain any of the recently reunited group's new material; its reunion album, "The Block" arrives September 2.
At 7.33 million units, sales this week are up 2.5 percent from the previous week's sum but down 13.4 percent from the comparable week of 2007.
Reuters/Billboard
