American Songwriter Reads the Charts: The Kelly Clarkson Comeback

Kelly Clarkson, once the idol of all America, fell on hard times with her third album, My December (even the name sounds depressing).

Kelly Clarkson, once the idol of all America, fell on hard times with her third album, My December (even the name sounds depressing). My December entered The Billboard Top 200 at # 2 in 2007, but slipped back out again after a relatively disappointing 18 weeks. All in all, it sold a paltry 788,00 copies in the States, well shy of the 6.1 million albums her second album, Breakaway sold (figures courtesy of Nielsen SoundScan).

But now Kelly Clarkson is a chart-topper once more, clinching this week’s No. 1 spot with her fourth full-length, All I Ever Wanted. Applause, applause. That meant that Irish supergroup U2, who ruled the chart last week, had to settle for the #3 spot this time around. It was fun while it lasted. Now rock and roll is dead again. Bummer.

On the debut front, hyphenated hip hop star The-Dream entered at #2 with Love Vs. Money, and new discs from J. Holiday, Chris Cornell, and New Found Glory all found there way into the top 15.

Billboard reports that overall album sales were down 6.2% compared to last week, and down 16.6% compared to the same sales week in 2008. Year to date album sales, at 77.5 million, are down 12% compared to last year.

Here’s the top-selling albums in the country this week:

1. Kelly Clarkson – All I Even Wanted
2. The-Dream – Love Vs. Money
3. U2 – No Line On The Horizon
4. J. Holiday – Round 2
5. Taylor Swift – Fearless
6. Lady GaGa – The Fame
7. Nickelback – Dark Horse
8. Beyonce – I Am…Sasha Fierce
9. Jamie Foxx – Intuition
10. Chris Cornell – Scream