People Still Buy Music: Smooth sailing for Adele and Whitney, though Kid Cudi makes a splash

After the Grammy bump, the in memoriam bump, and the taking-some-lumps bump we've tracked on the Billboard charts in the last few weeks, we knew the excitement was bound to die down sometime. Looks like that week has arrived, as just about all is quiet on the Billboard 200 front: Adele’s 21 continues its reign at No. 1 on the albums chart, selling 247,000 copies and spending a 23^rd non-consecutive week at pole position. The Grammy-sweeping collection has now sold more than 2 million units in 2012—a remarkable feat this early in the year, which no artist has accomplished since 2003 when 50 Cent released Get Rich Or Die Tryin’.

(But beware the Ides of March, Adele: It was one year ago next week that a surging debut by Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers bumped 21 from the top spot. Et tu, Lupe?)

Whitney Houston occupies the No. 2, No. 5, and No. 10 spots this week. Whitney: The Greatest Hits sold 257,000 units to claim the second-highest frame, while The Bodyguard soundtrack and Whitney Houston sit perched at the fifth and 10th positions, respectively. Houston’s albums hold a total of nine slots in the top half of the chart this week—the highest number by a single artist since the Beatles held 11 slots in the top 100 in 2009.

Though a strong debut from Kid Cudi’s collaborative album WZRD with Dot Da Genius sold 66,000 copies to claim the third spot from the top, consistency still reigns throughout much of the Billboard 200’s top 10. Now 41, Tyga’s Careless World, and Adele’s 19, all present in last week's chart, shift to slots 4, 6, and 7, respectively. Talk That Talk, the Rihanna album released in November, slingshots back into the upper tier with 29,000 sold, landing at No. 9, and Drake’s resurgent Take Care moves to No. 8 from No. 13.

There's not much new under the sun on the Digital Songs chart this week, either. “We Are Young,” the Fun. vehicle with Janelle Monae, holds steady at No. 1 with 302,000 downloads, while last week's third-place finisher, The Wanted's “Glad You Came,” moves up to second place.

Far East Movement’s “Live My Life” featuring Justin Bieber debuts at No. 8, and Nos. 9 and 10—Carrie Underwood’s “Good Girl” and Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa’s “Young, Wild & Free”—both climbed up from just outside the top 10, but that's about it for newcomers. Repeat offenders round out the rest of the top 10: Kelly Clarkson claims the third spot from the top with 197,000 downloads of “Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)” sold, Nicki Minaj's "Starships" rises from No. 7 to No. 4 (switching places with “Part Of Me” by Katy Perry), Gotye's “Somebody I Used To Know,” featuring Kimbra, climbs up from eighth to fifth, Adele's “Set Fire To The Rain” slips back from No. 5 to No. 6.

All told, both album sales and digital song downloads saw a ho-hum no-bump week: Album sales rose less than 1 percent from last week, while digital song downloads slipped by 4 percent. [via Billboard]