SADE BREAKS THE RULES!

taken from Paul Grein's Chart Watch
Sade's Soldier Of Love enters the Billboard 200 at #1, becoming the group's eighth consecutive top 10 album. The group, named after lead singer Sade Adu, has never missed the top 10, in a chart career that began 25 years ago this month. Sade's consistency is remarkable because the group breaks most of the key rules of the music business. Like these, for instance:

Maintain a regular flow of product. Soldier Of Love is Sade's first studio album since 2000's Lovers Rock. And that was their first studio album since 1992's Love Deluxe. Most acts would be reluctant to stay away that long between albums. They'd worry that a similar act would swoop in and fill their niche. Sade has the confidence, and the uniquely strong bond with its fans, to go at its own pace.

This is a singles-driven business. Though Sade has sold millions of albums, it has had just five top 40 hits on the Hot 100, the most recent being "No Ordinary Love" in early 1993. Lovers Rock reached #3 and won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album without spawning even one top 40 hit.

Constant exposure is the key to success. Sade doesn't play the celebrity game. You've probably seen Sade less on TV in the past 25 years than you've seen Beyonce or Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga in just the past few months.

Soldier Of Love is Sade's second #1 album. Its sophomore album, Promise, spent two weeks at #1 in February 1986. But Soldier is Sade's first album to debut at #1. Promise took nine weeks to hit the top. Soldier is all but assured of having a second week at #1, which will match Promise.

Soldier Of Love sold 502,000 copies in its first week, which is the greatest tally so far this year. It's 21,000 copies more than Lady Antebellum's Need You Now sold when it debuted at #1 two weeks ago. It's remarkable that two albums have had 400,000-plus sales weeks already in 2010, since this is only the sixth chart week of the year. This the first time in Nielsen/SoundScan history that two albums have posted one-week sales tallies of 400K or more this early in the year. Last year, it took until May 24 for the industry to deliver two albums that posted one-week sales of 400K. In 2008, it took until June 1.

This is obviously good news, but what does it mean? It suggests that if there's an album that people want, they'll buy it, even in an uncertain economy. It also suggests the album isn't fading away as fast as some of the pundits have predicted.