Singer Alicia Keys performs onstage during a celebration of Carole King and her music to benefit Paul Newman’s The Painted Turtle Camp at the Dolby Theatre on December 4, 2012 in Hollywood
*She’s done it again.
Alicia Keys tops the Billboard 200 chart for the fifth time in her career, as her latest album “Girl On Fire” debuts at No. 1 with 159,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Keys previously led the list with her first four albums (three studio sets and a live release). Her last album, 2009′s “The Element of Freedom,” entered at No. 2 with 417,000. Its hefty sales were buoyed by its week-before Christmas release date (Dec. 15). However, it was blocked from No. 1 by Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed a Dream,” which was in its fourth week at No. 1 (with 661,000).
“Girl On Fire’s” launch is the smallest of any Keys album — falling lower than that of her 2005 “Unplugged” set (196,000). That said, “Girl On Fire’s” start, according to Billboard, is what industry sources had forecasted a week ago, when insiders suggested it would bow with about 145,000 to 170,000.
Congrats to Alicia, I like a couple of the songs.