‘Dreamgirls’ sales enough to stay No. 1

IT’LL take a lot more than a spoonful of sugar to help the record industry swallow the news of the new low it hit sales-wise this week. The “Dreamgirls” soundtrack holds on to the top spot on the national album sales chart with an even lower number than last week, when it registered the lowest sales for a No. 1 album in the 16-year history of Nielsen SoundScan.

“Dreamgirls” sold 60,000 copies, keeping it in front of Akon’s “Konvicted,” in the No. 2 slot with sales of 55,000 copies. The bad news at the top of the chart is nominally muted by the fact that a two-CD “collector’s edition” of the “Dreamgirls” album sold 15,000 more copies, for a total of 75,000. That’s still a dip from last week’s combined sales of 84,000 on the two “Dreamgirls” sets. Adding the two figures relieved OutKast of the dubious honor of lowest sales for a No. 1 album, set in 2004 with 86,000 copies for the two-CD “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.”

And there’s no immediate relief in sight. A typical January dearth of powerhouse releases means that it probably will be two weeks before sales pick up considerably, with new albums from Norah Jones and Katharine McPhee due Jan. 30.

The national Top 10 looks much as it did last week, except for the arrival at No. 5 of the soundtrack to the Disney Channel movie “Jump In!,” with “High School Musical” costar Corbin Bleu. It sold 49,000 copies.

Every other album in the Top 10 posted lower sales than the previous week. Good news comes where you can find it these days: The average sales decline was a bit over 10% within the Top 10, compared with an average dip in the Top 10 of more than 40% a week earlier.

randy.lewis@latimes.com