TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора
John Mackie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, May 17, 2007
Michael Buble sold fewer copies of his new album Call Me Irresponsible this week than last week. But he still wound up vaulting to number one on the prestigious Billboard Top 200 album chart in the United States, up from number two the previous week.
What happened?
Mother's Day.
"He was an ideal purchase for Mother's Day," says Keith Caulfield of Billboard magazine.
"A lot of acts on the charts this past week either moved up or had a significant increase in sales because of Mother's Day gift purchases, everyone from Daughtry to Barbra [Streisand] to Buble."
Conversely, the number one act last week - R&B singer Ne-Yo - wasn't an ideal purchase for Mother's Day. Ne-Yo's sales dipped 65 percent this week, and he slipped to number four. Buble's sales went down 32 percent, but he still sold the most CDs in the U.S., so he went up in the chart.
Nielson Soundscan tracks CD and digital album sales in the U.S. and Canada. Call Me Irresponsible sold 212,000 copies in the States the first week, and 145,000 copies this week. In Canada, it sold 42,000 copies the first week, 40,000 this week.
Nielson Soundscan even tracks sales in local markets. In Vancouver, Buble sold 4,000 copies his first week, and 3,000 this week. His British Columbia-wide total was 6,000 this first week, 5,000 this week
Buble was in Chicago today to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show. His manager Bruce Allen was also in Chicago, but Allen's public relations assistant Marlene Palmer says the new album has sold 1.3 million copies worldwide in its first two weeks of release. His record company Warner Brothers says this makes the Burnaby crooner the top selling musical act in the world this week.
Buble's new album has been number one in Canada, the United States, Germany, Holland, Italy, Australia, South Africa and Singapore. He also has the top selling album in Europe in general.
Buble had sold 13 million albums worldwide before Call Me Irresponsible, but this is his first number one record in the States. His previous best was It's Time in 2005, which went to number seven.
It's unusual for a Sinatra-style singer like Buble to top the charts these days, and it's also unusual in the way he did it.
"The normal way of getting number one these days is that you debut at number one, you usually don't rise to number one," says Billboard's Caulfield.
"So Michael Buble actually climbs to number one, which is kind of unusual and pretty cool. It's his first number one, so it's even cooler for him."
Buble has been home in Vancouver recently, often with his girlfriend, actress Emily Blunt. But he will soon be setting out on a world tour that begins July 12 in Reno. There are 55 shows listed for the U.S., Holland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Scotland, and Wales, but so far there are no dates for Canada.
The closest shows to Vancouver are August 28 and 29 in Seattle, where he will play Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. It's initials spell MOM, which is appropriate, because it was rebuilt by contributions by Seattle billionaires John, Craig and Keith McCaw in honour of their mother.
The most recent B.C. acts to be number one on the Billboard Top 200 are Nelly Furtado and Nickelback. Bryan Adams and Bachman-Turner Overdrive have also had number one albums in the U.S.
Canadians are doing quite well in the States at present; Avril Lavigne also had a recent number one. Lavigne is currently number five, Robin Thicke is at #16, Nickelback is #17, Rush is #20, Furtado is #29, Feist is #35 and the Arcade Fire is #95.
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