People buy a lot of albums before Christmas. These are the top selling albums on the Billboard 200:

1. Taylor Swift – “Speak Now” – 259,000 (up 29%; cume 2.6M)

2. Susan Boyle – “The Gift” – 254,000 (up 5%)

3. Michael Jackson – “Michael” – 228,000 (debut)

4. Jackie Evancho – “O Holy Night” – 191,000 (up 28%)

5. “Glee” Christmas album – 158,000 (down 18%)

6. R. Kelly – “Love Letter” – 154,000 (debut)

7. Diddy-Dirty Money – “Last Train To Paris” – 101,000 (debut)

8. Nicki Minaj – “Pink Friday” – 97,000 (up 19%)

9. Kid Rock – “Born Free” – 94,000 (up 41%)

10. “Glee, the Music: Season Two: Volume 4” – 87,000 (up 17%)

I can’t decide if that Michael Jackson number is impressive or not…

Futher down:

28. Crystal Bowersox – “Farmer’s Daughter” – 58,000 (debut)

35. Tank – “Now Or Never” – 44,000 (debut)

44. Ciara – “Basic Instinct” – 37,000 (debut)

91. Kandi – “Kandi Koated” – 18,000 (debut)

• Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Dec. 19) totaled 12.50 million units

• Digital track sales this past week totaled 21.18 million downloads

Last week’s Top Ten (delayed by Thanksgiving)

1. Susan Boyle – “The Gift” – 243,000 (down 10%)

2. Taylor Swift – “Speak Now” – 201,000 (up 11%)

3. “Glee” Christmas album – 193,000 (up 49%)

4. T.I. – “No Mercy,” – 159,000 (debut)

5. Jackie Evancho – “O Holy Night” – 149,000 (up 3%)

6. Nicki Minaj – “Pink Friday” – 82,000 (down 21%)

7. Josh Groban – “Illuminations” – 75,000 (down 3%)

8. “Glee, the Music: Season Two: Volume 4” – 74,000 (down 42%)

9. Rihanna – “Loud” – 71,000 (down 8%)

10. Daft Punk – “TRON: Legacy” – 71,000 (debut)

• Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Dec. 12) totaled 10.21 million units

• Digital track sales this past week totaled 20.47 million downloads