Beyonce's Big Start Kicks Up 2006 Sales

By GEOFF MAYFIELD, Reuters

Turns out Beyonce's birthday is not just a celebration for the singer, but for the whole music industry. The No. 1 bow by her second solo album, "B'Day," also signals the first time in four months that album sales beat those of the comparable 2005 sales week.

Released Sept. 5, the day after her 25th birthday, it opens with 541,000 copies, 59 percent more than the 317,000 first-week sales that greeted her first solo album, "Dangerously in Love," in 2003.

There was only one period in the seven-album career of her group, Destiny's Child, when she had a larger sales week: Third set "Survivor" began at 663,000 in May 2001.

The improvement over her first solo album's start is no surprise. With this record arriving just a few months before her starring role in "Dreamgirls" hits screens in December, Beyonce's celebrity has never been greater, fetching beaucoup ink in magazines and newspapers.

Her Aug. 31 performance at MTV's Video Music Awards set the stage for "B'Day." The video for second single "Ring the Alarm" was MTV's most-played clip during release week (29 plays) and also was among the 10 most-played videos at BET and VH1 Soul. The song enters the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 12, her highest debut either solo or with Destiny's Child.

Beyonce's opening sum is the best Nielsen SoundScan week by any solo artist this year. It is the third-largest total by any 2006 album, exceeded only by Rascal Flatts' "Me and My Gang" (722,000) and Tool's "10,000 Days" (564,000).

"B'Day" is the fifth album in 2006 to start in the half-million-plus club, compared with four during the first 36 sales weeks of 2005. Read more...