Beatles Still Setting (and Selling) Records

The Beatles’ latest hits compilation didn’t just humble the Backstreet Boys on the sales chart this week, but also set a record for the highest sales in a non-debut week since SoundScan began monitoring U.S. album sales in 1991.

By selling 1.259 million copies last week, the Beatles’ “1” beat by almost 200,000 the mark of 1.06 million set by Whitney Houston’s “The Bodyguard” soundtrack in its fifth week of release in 1992.

Normally, high-profile albums will start off strong, then see sales drop in subsequent weeks. But the Beatles album, which brings together 27 No. 1 Beatles singles, has seen sales increase every week but one since selling 595,000 copies during its first week in stores in late November.

“That’s really wild,” says Violet Brown, director of urban music for Wherehouse Entertainment. “I knew it was going to be extremely big, and we knew it would be a strong No. 1 album, but to scan more than 1 million with a group that hasn’t recorded for 30 years, that’s pretty remarkable.”

Also, says Tower Records Southwest territory director Bob Feterl, “Most people already have most of these records [included on the “1” album]. But it really does transcend generations.”

The six-week total of 4.6 million makes “1” the year’s seventh-biggest-selling album. ‘N Sync’s “No Strings Attached,” which was released in March, is the year’s biggest seller with 9.84 million sales, followed by Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” at 7.83 million. (‘N Sync’s album also holds the record for most sales ever in a week: 2.4 million in its first week in stores.)

Although retail sales in general have been sluggish across the country and merchants have expressed disappointment at results during this holiday season in particular, music retailers are singing a somewhat cheerier tune.

“We were a little worried, but it ended up OK for us,” says Brown. “It was a slow season; at least it was slow getting started. But the day after Christmas was extremely busy. I think people just waited.”

The Beatles album was part of what was believed to have been the biggest holiday sales week ever for the record industry--certainly the biggest of the SoundScan era. The top 200 albums, which are SoundScan’s weekly gauge, sold 20.4 million copies, versus 19.1 million for the same week last year and 17.7 million for 1998.

Until last week, U.S. album unit sales had been running only about 3.5% ahead of last year--the smallest increase since 1996, according to Billboard magazine.

The Beatles are expected to remain at No. 1 for at least two or three more weeks, until major first-quarter new releases start to hit stores, retailers said.

The Backstreet Boys’ “Black & Blue” claims second place on this week’s chart by selling 724,000 copies, pushing total sales for the album to 4.1 million since its release in mid-November.

The remaining spots in the Top 5 belong to the hits compilation “Now That’s What I Call Music, Vol. 5,” Creed’s “Human Clay” and Shaggy’s “Hotshot.” Rounding out the Top 10: Limp Bizkit, Tim McGraw, Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg and ‘N Sync.

Snoop Dogg’s “Tha Last Meal” is the nation’s highest chart debut this week, selling 397,000 copies. The best-selling single, for the second week, is dream’s “He Loves U Not.”