American Songwriter Reads The Charts: Taylor Swift Is Back In Business

After ceding the top spot to Bruce Springsteen two weeks ago, Taylor Swift returns to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 this week. Sales of Swift’s Fearless rose 44 percent from last week. It has now spent nine non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 – the last album to do that was Santana’s Supernatural, in 1999.

Look who’s back….

After ceding the top spot to Bruce Springsteen two weeks ago, Taylor Swift returns to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 this week. Sales of Swift’s Fearless rose 44 percent from last week. It has now spent nine non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 – the last album to do that was Santana’s Supernatural, in 1999.

Debuting on this week’s chart are cheeky Brit Lily Allen, who’s second disc, It’s Not Me, It’s You reached #5, and SNL star Andy Samberg’s Lonely Island, who’s Incredibad came in at #13.

The Grammys and Valentine’s Day meant big sales weeks for Swift, Coldplay, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, who all saw large spikes in sales.

And yet, the record industry as a whole continues to atrophy — according to Billboard, overall record sales for this week are down 12.6 percent compared to last year.