Danity Dolls Get Low, Take Top Spot From Flo Rida On Billboard 200
By Bryan Munson

New York, NY (March 28, 2008) – What started out as a bad week for Diddy has turned into cause for celebration.  After investigative watchdog website The Smoking Gun published a report Tuesday that claimed L.A. Times writer Chuck Phillips implicated Diddy in the Tupac Shakur/Quad Recording Studio shooting based on forged documents, effectively removing Diddy’s head from the hip-hop chopping block, his drop-dead gorgeous girl group debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 this week.

Danity Kane (Shannon, Aundrea, Aubrey, Dawn, and D. Woods, if you had forgotten) defied the breakup rumors that dogged them all last year and sold a whopping 253,000 copies of their sophomore record, “Welcome To The Dollhouse.”  The second biggest one-week debut by anyone all year, DK is scheduled to do some shows in Florida in early April, and will likely hook up for a full tour later this summer.  Fans will shriek, girls will dress half nekid, boys will drool.  Should be hot.  But on a quasi-related note, does anyone think that Aubrey and Shannon http://www.myspace.com/danitykane don’t look as ill as they used to?  What the hell is up with that promo photo?  And why has their MySpace turned into free advertisement for Donnie and Day 26?

Blah.  In other news, Rick Ross held down the #3 spot this week, moving another 90,000 copies of his second LP, “Trilla.”  He handled Snoop and Fat Joe in his debut rather easily, but it looks like Now That’s What I Call Music 27 proved too strong this week.  His total stands at 289,000.

Cleverly named Flo Rida was close behind at #4 with his major league debut, “Mail On Sunday.”  With 3 million digital downloads already to his name, courtesy of his monster hit “Low,” the perpetually wife-beater-rocking homie moved 86,000 copies.  Apparently loaded with slick singles and devoid of any artistic content, Flo Rida might just see his album succeed.  His second single “Elevator” is definitely catchy and his seemingly ubiquitous television appearances will certainly (duh) keep him in the public eye.  Now all he needs is a case!

Overall, the Top 25 got shuffled up pretty nicely this week.  The aforementioned Snoop dropped four spots to #7, scanning another 57,300 copies of “Ego Trippin;” his two-week total sits at 194,200.  Alicia Keys remained at No. 13 for the second straight week, adding 40,600 copies of “As I Am” to her 19-week total of 3,317,800, but Janet Jackson continued to slide.  Damita Jo’s “Discipline” dropped to No. 17, moving 33,500 copies this week; her total scans are at 310,000 albums.  Of course, that’s not exceedingly bad, but it’s certainly not great either, especially for a singer that’s gone platinum with every record she’s ever released.

Moving on, hipster faves Gnarls Barkley (Cee-lo and DJ Danger Mouse) sold 31,000 copies of their eclectic sophomore release, “The Odd Couple,” good enough for #18.  Behind them and anchored by the ‘blazin street single’ "Umma Do Me," Hotlanta’s Rocko impacted the charts this week at #21 with his debut LP “Self-Made.”  His grand total, though?  27,800.  Ouch.

After him, most of the names should be familiar.  At #24 (OK I embellished a bit about the Top 25 being shaken up early, sue me), Amy Winehouse stumbled in by moving a scant 26,400 copies of “Back To Black.”  The Grammy winner sees her 53-week total at 1.83 million.  Teen Pimp Chris Brown followed her, moving 25,400 copies of his sophomore set, “Exclusive.”  The hitmaker has sold 1.4 million copies in 20 weeks.  And interestingly enough, his duet partner, Jordin Sparks, continued her climb up the Billboard 200 off the strength of “No Air,” landing behind Breezy at #29.  She scanned 23,800 copies of her self-titled debut for a total of 595,400.

Some serious hip-hop queens dominated the next few spots, with Mary J. Blige in at #32 with 20,000 copies of “Growing Pains.”  Her eighth disc has amassed a 14-week total of 1.37 million.  Keyshia Cole slid in behind her to #36 this week, moving 18,900 copies of “Just Like You.”  And the enigmatic Erykah Badu saw her critically acclaimed “New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) free-fall from #9 to #37 this week with 17,500 copies.

The rest are fairly uninteresting, so I will fail to mention them.  Next week, though, we’ll be checking for the latest Diddy project, Day 26, to make their debut on the charts.  Could the Puffed One make it two #1’s in a row with two separate acts?  Who the hell knows!  Until then, however, look for Diddy… he’s the one tap dancing in the board room.