Cake Takes the 1st Spot for Album Sales

The number one spot for album sales this week goes to American alternative rock band, Cake, for their album "Showroom of Compassion". Ever since sales data has been tracked, Nielsen SoundScan has been taking note of how many discs are sold during the week. Cake has reached the most sought-after position after their album sold just 44,000 copies. That itself is another milestone, being the "lowest selling number one record" on the Billboard 200 ever since sales data records started being kept.

The number two spot, selling only 39,000 copies, goes to US rock band, Cage the Elephant. Since their formation in 2006, they have gained a huge following in the US and in the UK mainly for their really high-energy performances. Their runner-up position is achieved with their newly-released album, "Thank You, Happy Birthday".

These two "hardly heard-of" bands managed to de-throne Taylor Swift from the pinnacle position. Her current album "Speak Now" sits at the number three spot, having sold 35,000 copies during the week.

Album sales are down overall. Bruno Mars has gone from No. 3 to No.4 with his album "Doo - Wops & Hooligans". Nicki Minaj drops from 2 to 5 with her "Pink Friday" album, and "Loud" by Rihanna goes from number 6 to number 8.

US rapper, Kanye West, drops from No.7 to No.10 with the album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy".

While it might be sad news on the album front, it has been a bumper week in digital sales. The Digital Singles chart has had its best sales week. The single "Hold It against Me", which was premiered on Ryan Seacrest's radio show in the US on January 10, was released exclusively as a digital download via iTunes. The song, by Britney Spears, debuted at the No.1 position with a massive 411,000 downloads. This alone is a new record, upstaging the previous sales peak of 325,000 downloads for Taylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairytale".