In its fourth week on the Billboard 200, the "Hannah Montana: The Movie" soundtrack reached No. 1 for the first time on Wednesday, becoming the third album from the Disney franchise to accomplish this feat.
The soundtrack to the recent box office champ sold 133,000 copies during the week ended April 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Hannah Montana: the Movie" is the first soundtrack to top the Billboard 200 this year. Last year, three did the trick: "Juno," "Mamma Mia!" and "Twilight." The first and second volumes of the TV show's soundtracks hit No. 1 in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
New at No. 2 was Day26's "Forever In a Day," which sold 113,000 copies. Day26's album is the made-on-MTV group's second effort, following its self-titled No. 1-debuting set from just over a year ago. That album started with 190,000 on its way to a cumulative sum of 387,000 in the U.S.
Last week's champ, country combo Rascal Flatts' "Unstoppable" slipped to No. 3 with 107,000.
Los Angeles-based indie rock band Silversun Pickups scored the only other debut in the top 50 as "Swoon" arrived at No. 7 with a career-high sales week of 43,000. The group's first release, 2006's "Carnavas," peaked at No. 80, and its best sales week came in March 2007 when it sold nearly 10,000.
Elsewhere in the top 10, the "Twilight" soundtrack jumped four places to No. 4; the "Now 30" compilation held at No. 5; Jadakiss' "The Last Kiss" fell three to No. 6; Lady GaGa's "The Fame" rose two to No. 8; Jason Aldean's "Wide Open" dropped five to No. 9; and Taylor Swift's "Fearless" fell four to No. 10.
Overall album sales totaled 6.36 million units, down 18.8% from the previous week, and down 15.2% from the same week last year. Year-to-date album sales stand at 111.7 million units, down 12.3% compared to the same total at this point last year.
(Reuters April 23, 2009)
