Clive Davis/Arista/J/RCA albums in the Top 200:

#6 – Kelly Clarkson "Breakaway" – 5,813,208

#177 – Barry Manilow "Ultimate Manilow" – 2,069,502

Oh, do you want to credit him with Maroon 5? I’m not down with that, but if you throw that in we’ve got a grand total of 3 continuous sellers in the history of SoundScan. And you wonder why the business is fucked. Keep chasing those singles!

Rap Albums in the Top 200:

#92 – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony "Greatest Hits" – 779,828

#120 – 50 Cent "Get Rich Or Die Tryin’" – 7,692,252

#170 – Beastie Boys "License To Ill" – 5,213,423

#171 – 50 Cent "Massacre" – 5,100,068

Guess they won’t be playing rap at weddings in the twenty teens. At least not by acts of the past.
If Eminem put out an album today the only people who would really care are those in the media.

Christian acts in the Top 200 that you’ve never heard of:

#64 – Casting Crowns "Lifesong" – 636,192

#165 – Mercy Me "Almost There" – 1,352,476

So, in the eyes of Wall Street, should Christian music labels be worth more than rap labels?

Biggest selling album in the Top 200:

#13 – Metallica "Metallica (Black Album)" – 14,962,918

Guess they’re just a great album away from a comeback. And is the new record, produced by Rick Rubin, gonna be it? Can they finally leave the Napster fiasco behind?

Meanwhile, "…And Justice For All" has sold 5,013,393.

As for "Dark Side Of The Moon"? It had the injustice of being released prior to the SoundScan era. But it’s moved another 8,165,843 copies in the modern, almost twenty year old era. And "The Wall" and "Wish You Were Here" are on this chart too.

Why Usher is in the gossip pages:

#65 – "Confessions" – 9,420,016

Turns out a lot of people do care whether he marries the mother of his baby.

As for the label… Do we credit L.A. Reid or Clive Davis? Clive made the deal, but L.A. made the record. Mmm… Then again, did Clive have anything to do with L.A. losing his job, after succeeding him at Arista?

That’s for back room rumor-mongering. All we know is, L.A.’s quieter than Clive, but seems to have just as good a track record, if not better. Then again, not a single Mariah Carey album is in this Top 200 Catalogue Chart, not even the one containing the "song of the summer" from two short years ago. Guess we don’t belong together.

Number one:

Tim McGraw "Greatest Hits" – 5,612,149

Other country records on the chart:

#24 – Rascal Flatts "Feels Like Today" – 4,867,722

#26 – Jason Aldean "Jason Aldean" – 1,033,529

#44 – Toby Keith " Greatest Hits 2" – 3,545,134

#47 – Kenny Chesney "Greatest Hits" – 3,596,403

#53 – George Strait "50 Number Ones" – 3,009,584

#54 – Martina McBride "Greatest Hits" – 2,994,097

#56 – Sugarland "Twice The Speed Of Life" – 2,371,251

#61 – LeAnn Rimes "Greatest Hits" – 1,022,620

#73 – Alan Jackson "Greatest Hits 2" – 1,519,081

#80 – Shania Twain "Greatest Hits" – 3,636,743

#93 – Hank Williams, Jr. " Greatest Hits, Vol. 1" – 2,504,759

And another ten in the bottom 100.
So I ask you, Madison Avenue, do we live in a HIP-HOP nation or a COUNTRY nation?

Only act with two records in the Top Ten:

#2 – Michael Buble "It’s Time" – 2,457,811

#10 – Michael Buble "Michael Buble" 1,800,648

One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain:

#17 – Bob Marley & the Wailers "Legend" – 9,195,798

Fat-bottomed girls dancing to a bohemian rhapsody:

#23 – Queen "Greatest Hits" – 6,177,044

All you need to own to go to the show:

#67 – Jimmy Buffett "Songs You Know By Heart" – 6,11,082

How did that old Bette Midler tune go…you’ve got to have friends? No, you’ve got to have fans. Friends are people looking to use and abuse you on MySpace as they climb the ladder to nowhere, forgetting you along the way. Fans stay with you forever. What Letterman says about Oprah could also apply to Jimmy Buffett… "He’s got ALL the money!"

Not really gone, certainly not forgotten:

#81 – Doobie Brothers "Greatest Hits" – 2,069,457

People remember their time on Toulouse Street, they still want to listen to the music.

The Doobies’ last album of original material, "Sibling Rivalry", was actually good. If it had been today rather than the turn of the century, they would have given the CD away free with the AARP magazine and further invigorated their live business.