Susan Boyle aims for sixth week atop U.S. chart

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-04 09:51
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Susan Boyle aims for sixth week atop U.S. chart

LOS ANGELES - Susan Boyle is on track to celebrate a sixth consecutive week at No. 1 on the U.S. pop album chart on Wednesday, but may fall short of claiming the best-selling release of 2009.

Industry prognosticators project the Scottish singer's "I Dreamed a Dream" could sell about 150,000 to 165,000 copies by week's end on Sunday (January 3) night.

Boyle has been quickly catching up to Taylor Swift's "Fearless," which is currently the top selling album of 2009. The 2009 total for "Fearless" stands at 3,157,000, while "Dream" is at 2,982,000.

With "Fearless" projected to sell between 65,000 and 75,000 copies this week, it appears Boyle will not be able to close the gap between the two.

Due to a quirk in the calendar, instead of 52 tracking weeks in 2009, there were 53. Because four out of the seven days in the latest sales week fell in 2009, the full week gets credited to 2009.

"Dream" is the only album likely to sell over 100,000 in the latest sales week. The runner-up on the Billboard 200 may be Lady Gaga's "The Fame," which could shift perhaps 90,000 to 95,000 copies. If "The Fame" can rise to No. 2, it will be a new peak for the long-running album, which has gone as high as No. 4 on the tally.