EMINEM’s stalker ode ‘STAN’ has inched ahead of BOB THE BUILDER’s chirpy Christmas tune ‘CAN I FIX IT?’ in the first day of battle for the top spot on this week’s chart.
On their first day of release yesterday (December 4), ‘Stan’ sold just over 40,000 copies, while ‘Can I Fix It?’ has sold almost 36,000. But according to a spokesperson at HMV, Slim Shady could have a fight on his hands from the UK kiddies cartoon character by the weekend, as impulse-buyers, novelty party record afficionados and Christmas shoppers get their mitts on it.
A spokesperson said: “The Bob The Builder track is one that people will pop into their basket while they’re doing their Christmas shopping, so when the big shopping day kicks in, people will pop it in their shopping bag along with the presents. So it could easily catch up.”
And while Eminem is expected to sell consistently through this week, he added that Bob The Builder was likely to have seasonal staying-power.
Elsewhere in the Top 10 this week, Wyclef Jean is currently standing at Number Eight with his new single ‘911’, while Britney Spears’ pop-princess crown is slipping slightly, with her new single ‘Stronger’ only reaching Number Nine on current sales. Baha Men’s ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’ is still selling strongly, having gone Gold and notched up sales of almost half a million, and is likely to continue to do so well into December with the office party season kicking off.
The Beatles are still exerting a seemingly invincible grip on the top spot in the albums chart, with ‘1’ continuing to sell between 200,000 and quarter of a million copies weekly.
“It has already sold over 800,000 copies, so all it will take is another few weeks of that level of sale – which they should achieve, as it is another reliable Christmas seller – for them to surpass Moby’s ‘Play’ (which has sold 1.2 million copies) as the biggest seller of the year,” said the HMV spokesperson.
The recent surge of hype around Madonna has paid off in the album charts – sales of ‘Music’ have soared in the past seven days, and currently stand at 84% higher than the same time last week, which could mean it returning to the Top Five by Sunday.