Beyonce starts "Fierce" atop U.S. album chart

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Beyonce has scored her third straight No. 1 debut on the pop album chart with the double-disc "I Am ... Sasha Fierce."

The Music World/Columbia album shifted a whopping 482,000 copies in the United States during the week ended November 23, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The set, split between material credited to R&B star Beyonce and her new alter-ego, Sasha Fierce, has already spawned the hits "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." Beyonce's 2003 solo debut, "Dangerously in Love," started with 317,000, while 2006's "B-Day" moved 541,000.

In a week with seven top 20 debuts on the Billboard 200, Nickelback's "Dark Horse" sold 326,000 to start at No. 2. The Canadian rock outfit spent an astonishing 156 weeks on the chart with its previous album, 2005's "All the Right Reasons," whose sales total 6.97 million to date.

Reigning "American Idol" champion David Cook's self-titled debut arrived at No. 3 with 280,000. That's more than double the first-week numbers of 2007 champ Jordin Sparks' self-titled debut, which sold 119,000 copies and has gone on to shift 956,000.

Last week's No. 1, country singer Taylor Swift's "Fearless," slipped to No. 4 on a 63 percent sales decline to 217,000. New at No. 5 is multinational vocal group Il Divo's "The Promise" with 162,000. The act's previous album, 2006's "Siempre," debuted at No. 17 with 108,000.

The soundtrack to the runaway hit film "Twilight" slid from No. 5 to No. 6 despite a 17 percent sales uptick to 125,000. The "Now 29" compilation dropped from No. 3 to No. 7 after a 33 percent decline to 115,000. The "High School Musical 3" soundtrack fell one rung to No. 8 on a 9 percent sales downturn to 86,000, while Enya's "And Winter Came" moved from No. 8 to No. 9 on a nearly identical sales slide to 83,000.

AC/DC's "Black Ice" rounded out the top 10 after falling from No. 6. The album sold 73,000 copies in its fifth week of exclusive release via Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, bringing its total to 1.39 million.

Other debuts during the week included Dido's "Safe Trip Home" at No. 13 with 51,000 and the Zac Brown Band's "The Foundation" at No. 17 with 44,000.

At 9.45 million, sales were up 6 percent from the previous week but down 32 percent from the year-earlier week (13.96 million).

Reuters/Billboard

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Whose Idea Was Beyoncé's Shiny Robot Glove?

by Leslie Gornstein

What is that new hand that Beyoncé has? Is it a robot hand? Is it superstrong?
—B Fan, Yonkers

See? I told you. The Cylons. They look like us now.

The handpiece you mention—alternately known among fashion reporters as the roboglove, the gling or Anti-Rihanna Death Grip—actually was handcrafted by Beyoncé's longtime jeweler, New York-based Lorraine Schwartz. Despite Internet rumors that the piece was fashioned of pure gold—possibly in the legendary Elven forges at Rivendell—it's actually made of...

...titanium!

And, according to sources close to the gling, it's also one of a kind and therefore close to priceless.

More details on the roboglove? Sure.

• Schwartz had her artisans working day and night on the piece, laboring 24 hours a day until it was complete.

• It fits literally like a glove. Beyoncé's entire upper arm was cast in wax so that the titanium piece would wrap perfectly.

• It's actually several pieces, including a ring, a glove and a separate component that covers the upper arm. It can be worn all together or separately.

• It looks heavier than it is. Titanium is about 45 percent lighter than steel.

• Beyoncé really, really doesn't want to take it off. She wore it on Saturday Night Live. She wore it in her "Single Ladies" video. She wore it in her cover spread for Gotham magazine. She wore it on the red carpet at the MTV Europe Awards.

• The glove was Beyoncé's concept all the way, I am told—a "superpower" hand to complement the singer's new Sasha Fierce ego.

Speaking of fierce, the white-hot flame of truth doesn't stop for a turkey. Look for more answers to your burningest Q's later this week.

Source: eonline.com

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