CHART STORY: MJ WINS
IN A SQUEAKER

Well, that was suspenseful.

In the closest, toughest squeaker of a showdown we can remember, Epic’s Michael Jackson has fended off Nonesuch/Warner Bros.’ The Black Keys for #1 on the HITS Album Sales Chart by a margin in the hundreds of pieces.

Damn.

Last week’s champ, the hits comp Now 50, slips to #3 with nearly 80k (-48%), while Disney’s monster ST Frozen takes #4 with 71k (-27%). Big Machine’s Rascal Flatts rounds out theTop 5 with a 62k bow.

As to the rest of the Top 10, Sony Masterworks’ Dolly Parton bows at #6 with 38k, followed by Mercury’s debuting Tori Amos (20k), Atlantic’s Hunter Hayes (17k, -75%), Capitol Nashville’s Luke Bryan (16k, -34%) and a new one from Sparrow’s Michael W. Smith (15k).

The greatest gainer in a down week is Capitol Nashville’s Keith Urban, who leaps #46-19 (+111%).

Streeting this week are Parlophone’s Coldplay, Valory’s Brantley Gilbert, Def Jam’s Afrojack, Nonesuch’s Conor Oberst,19/Interscope’s Phillip Phillips and Def Jam’s The Roots, among others.

Mama needs to take a pill and lie down for a while, kids.