14 DAY TRIAL // Just days ago, Britain’s Got Talent runner-up and the biggest underdog sensation the music industry has ever witnessed, Susan Boyle, set a new record in the UK for the fastest-selling debut album from a female artist. Today, Billboard announces that she has done the same in the US as well, with 700,000 items sold so far.
“I Dreamed a Dream” is Susan’s debut album and, although being just a collection of covers (as some music critics describe it), it managed to strike a chord with music lovers in most territories it has been released. First, it was in England that the debut material climbed to the top of the charts, with the US following suit. Other artists who also came up with albums of their own in this period have been left eating Susan’s dust, as the saying goes.
Of course, that’s not to say that competition has been anything but stiff, as we were also telling you a few days ago. For starters, Susan had to measure up against the likes of Lady Gaga, of whom many are already saying she’s undoubtedly the biggest female singer of the year, and who recently released “The Fame Monster.” Then, there was Rihanna, who put out her first material since the February ’09 incident and that was heavily inspired from it.
Together with these two household names, Adam Lambert, the American Idol favorite and, as of late, the one name that is on everyone’s lips, also made his music debut. Equipped not only with the kind of voice that stands no comparison, but also with a captivating and entirely fascinating personality, Lambert released “For Your Entertainment,” thus entering the race against Miss Boyle. Shakira also had an album in the running but, according to Billboard, it only came out at number 15 after selling a meager 89,000 copies.
The other artists, however, all pulled impressive numbers, which goes to speak in favor of their staying power, especially in this economy and in a context in which music sales are going down at a worrying rate, analysts say. Lambert moved 198,000 copies of “FYE,” Rihanna sold 181,000 albums of “Rated R,” while Lady Gaga 174,000.