Pregnant teens rock!
After collecting four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and passing $100 million at the box office, Juno topped off a banner week by delivering its soundtrack to the top of the album chart.
Not bad, considering the seven-week-old compilation is driven by underground artist and anti-folkster Kimya Dawson of the decidedly lo-fi groups Antsy Pants and Moldy Peaches and was a digital-only release at the start of the month.
For the week ended Sunday, the Juno soundtrack sold another 65,000 copies, according to the latest SoundScan numbers. It's the first soundtrack from a Best Picture nominee to top the charts since Titanic a decade ago.
And this marks the first number one album for Rhino Records, a 30-year-old label, now owned by Warner Bros. Music, known for its retrospectives and hits collections.
"It's fitting that the Juno soundtrack should become Rhino's first-ever number one album," Scott Pascucci, Rhino's president, said in a statement. "Like Rhino, the soundtrack is a combination of quirky and cool that people seem to love. And the music works so perfectly with this brilliant film."
The film and soundtrack benefited from four Oscar nominations announced last week. Aside from Best Picture, Jason Reitman was nominated for Best Director, star Ellen Page is up for Best Actress and Diablo Cody's script is in the running for Best Original Screenplay.
Juno is also Fox Searchlight's highest grossing film to date.
In addition to the Dawson tracks, the Juno soundtrack features artists like the Kinks, Buddy Holly, Belle and Sebastian, Sonic Youth, Mott the Hoople, the Velvet Underground and Cat Power. A cover of the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else But You" by stars Page and Michael Cera recently became available as a ringtone and had its video debut on MTV.
After two weeks on top, Alicia Keys' As I Am slipped to number two on 60,000 copies.
Natasha Bedingfield scored the week's biggest bow with Pocketful of Sunshine—featuring the radio single "Love Like This" with Sean Kingston—selling 50,000 copies to come in at number three. The British singer-songwriter, who started her career in Christian music, first broke big with her 2004 debut Unwritten and its title track hit single. "Unwritten" went on to become the theme song to MTV's hit quasi reality series The Hills.
Cat Power's new covers album, Jukebox, scored the week's next best bow, selling 29,000 at number 12. The indie favorite, whose real name is Chan Marshall, purrs her way through classics like Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain," James Brown's "Lost Someone," Bob Dylan's "I Believe in You" and even her own decade-old "Metal Heart."
Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 10 followed at 18 selling 21,000. The series' first installment, which featured all holiday songs, debuted in 2000.
Powered by the country hit "Stealing Cinderella," Chuck Wicks' rookie release Starting Now debuted at 24 selling 20,000. The Delaware-born singer appeared in both episodes of Fox TV's short-lived reality-soap Nashville.
Other notable debuts included Drive-By Truckers' Brighter Than Creations Dark at 36, Matt Costa's Unfamiliar Faces at 59, the Don't Look Away rerelease of Ultra (featuring One Tree Hill star Kate Voegele) at 63, Dance 09 at 77 and Black Mountain's In the Future at 101.
Overall, album sales were up nearly 5 percent from last week, but down more than 10 percent compared with the same week last year.
Here's a rundown of the Top 10:
1. Juno soundtrack, various
2. As I Am, Alicia Keys
3. Pocketful of Sunshine, Natasha Bedingfield
4. Growing Pains, Mary J. Blige
5. In Rainbows, Radiohead
6. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift
7. Exclusive, Chris Brown
8. Just Like You, Keyshia Cole
9. The Ultimate Hits, Garth Brooks
10. Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus