Taylor Swift Tops Album Chart For Sixth Week

January 14, 2009 10:54 AM ET
Katie Hasty, N.Y.

In another week bereft of any major new releases, Taylor Swift maintains her lead on The Billboard 200 for a sixth non-consecutive week with "Fearless." The Big Machine album moved 72,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, a 20% sales dip from the previous week.

"Fearless" is the first album to spend six weeks at the top since 2005, when 50 Cent's "The Massacre" logged its first six frames at the summit.

Nickelback's Roadrunner album "Dark Horse" leaps 5-2 with an 18% decrease to 53,000, while Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreak" (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) holds tight at No. 3 with 50,000 (-29%). Slipping 2-4 is Beyonce's "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" (Music World/Columbia) on a 36% decrease to 49,000. The Chop Shop/Atlantic soundtrack to "Twilight" descends a notch 4-5 with 43,000 (-35%).

The following four titles remain at the same spots on the chart from the week previous: Britney Spears' "Circus" at No. 6 (Jive, 40,000, -37%), Keyshia Cole's "A Different Me" at No. 7 (Geffen, 37,000, -31%), Jamie Foxx's "Intuition" at No. 8 (J, 34,000, -25%) and the "Now 29" compilation at No. 9 (multi-label, 30,000, -31%). Akon's "Freedom" re-enters the top tier 11-10 with 27,000, a 27% slip.

"The Fame" by Lady GaGa, last week's Hot 100 chart-topper, was one of the few albums this week to experience only a slight drop in sales, as it rockets up 26-14 on a 7% decrease to 21,000. Similarly, Katy Perry's "One of the Boys" (Virgin) moves up 23-15 with 20,000 (-19%) and Kings of Leon's "Only By the Night" (RCA) ascends 33-17 with 19,000 (-5%).

Only two new titles bow inside the top 50 this week. DJ Skribble's "Total Club Hits 2" (Thrive Records) debuts at No. 16 with 20,000. Another dance mix album, Jason Nevins' "Ultra Dance 10" (Ultra), starts at with 12,000.

At 6.25 million units, sales are down 26.5% compared to the same total last week and off by 13.8% compared to the same week last year.