Music Thread #1 For 12/2/09: Susan Boyle Wows With Massive First Week Sales

I always love an underrated story...and man, that is certainly the case with one Susan Boyle. I (and many others I might add) didn't expect this. But I am pleasantly surprised

YouTube sensation and former "Britain's Got Talent" contestant Susan Boyle's debut album "I Dreamed a Dream" opens at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 701,000 copies sold in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan -- the best sales week for an album in the U.S. this year.

2009's previous high-water mark came when Eminem's "Relapse" sold 608,000 in its opening week. In fact, Boyle's sales frame is the best the chart has seen since AC/DC's "Black Ice" bowed with 784,000 upon its release in October 2008.

700K copies! And get this great stat

The arrival of "I Dreamed a Dream" also marks the best opening week for a female artist's debut album since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Boyle beats out Ashanti for the title, as her self-titled debut began with 503,000 in 2002.

No other female has sold higher than Boyle in her first week for a debut album.....not Britney, Beyonce', no one.

Boyle had a better first week than artists in the 90's! You know the 90's, when it was actually a better climate to buy CD's.

Just ponder that for a moment before you continue reading.

Boyle is on the road to going platinum in three weeks here, and it wouldn't be foolhardy to think she could push 300K in her second week (though I don't think it will happen).

Now I don't know the quality of Boyle's album because I haven't listen to, and I haven't been privy to any review of it. But that is totally irrelevant to this key point (even if Thanksgiving weekend abetted in this happening):

People will still buy albums if they think it is worth it, especially those not considered "teenager" or "young adult". The audience is still there to sell CD's at a mid 90's clip if you have the right marketing, the right appeal, or your CD is truly "a must hear."

Everyone (and I really do mean EVERYONE, from artist to AR) in music should be in full exhalation over Boyle's stunning initial week totals. Unless you are Rihanna or Lady Gaga that is.

Now Rihanna has never been a big first week person.......at all.

Her albums just don't gravitate people to buy them in contrast to those labeling her a "superstar" believe. And though she earned her best first week sales ever for "Rated R" with 181K sold, those aren't numbers of a "superstar" status at all (Neither Lady Gaga's 174,000 for her "The Fame Monster" EP that is a mini-sequel to "The Fame").

Adam Lambert did better than both of Rihanna and Gaga, as only Boyle and the holiday force that is Andrea Bocelli topped him. All that attention from the AMA definitely helped, because he was within a whisker of 200k sold (198k was the final total).

What about 50 Cent, and his second week sales? Well, yeah:

19- 50 Cent "Before I Self Destruct"
66,000.......227,000 (total)

Jay-Z must certainly be laughing somewhere indeed.

Curtis' first week sales through are almost better than Birdman and Jay Sean combined. I didn't even know Birdman was releasing a disc (36,000), and he got more than the cross-cultured, "Down" backed single supported Sean did (31,000).

But all of them are further irrelevant to the British underdog damsel and her historic first week totals. And for that, she deservedly get her music played in this thread: