Ashlee Simpson reclaims her crown

LOS ANGELES - Ashlee Simpson's day of national shame has ended, as she emerges victorious from the shadow of last year's lip-sync debacle on "Saturday Night Live" with her second bow atop the Billboard 200.

OK. Perhaps I am overselling the significance of either event. But, for all the one-liners, head shaking and finger wagging that followed her Milli Vanilli moment, one should not be surprised that her second album, "I Am Me," debuts at No. 1. Nor should too much be read into this opening week weighing less than her first album's did when it hit stores in July 2004.

Fact is, any of the music lovers, young or old, who expressed consternation over that moment of truth were never in the market to buy Simpson's music anyway. And, most of the 2.9 million fans who bought her debut album were likely not the least bit ruffled by that episode.

We are, after all, talking about a then-19-year-old who had the audacity to title her first album "Autobiography." A person who revealed to the audience of "The Ashlee Simpson Show" that she dyed her hair black before that first album came to market in hopes she would be taken more seriously than had she remained blond.

While her first reaction was to duck accountability for the lip-sync incident, she soon dealt with that publicity headache head on, a strategy that helped put it behind her.

Minutes after the gaffe, Simpson told the "SNL" audience that her band "played the wrong song." Then press reports had her blaming it on a bout of acid reflux.

But, just a few days after making her abrupt exit from the "SNL" stage, Simpson lampooned her own red-faced moment when she appeared on an awards show. And she devoted major minutes of her MTV reality show to the "SNL" incident.

She even co-wrote a song about it for the new album, which she performed on "SNL" just a few days before "I Am Me" hit stores.

As for the diminution of her first-week take -- 220,000 copies this time after "Autobiography" started with 398,500 -- blame it on youth. Not hers, but that of her fan base.

Throughout the history of recorded music, teen-driven acts from as far back as Frankie Avalon, up through New Kids on the Block, on to Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, have repeatedly shown that young consumers back away from teen faves almost as quickly as they make them stars.

To wit, Vanilla Ice and Kris Kross rode their multiplatinum debut albums to No. 1, yet never returned to the top 10. Backstreet Boys backed off a career-peak week of 1.6 million copies for "Black & Blue" in 2000 to the 202,000 that marked the biggest week of their next album, "The Hits -- Chapter One," a year later.

Yes, the blond-again Simpson has enjoyed a daily presence on MTV's "TRL" and that network's special for her 21st birthday, while her stops on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "SNL" paved the road for her new album.

But "The Ashlee Simpson Show" is gone, and radio has not jumped on any song since her first album's lead track, "Pieces of Me," spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard Radio Monitor's Mainstream Top 40 chart.

All things considered -- although "I Am Me" stops shy of where first-day sales suggested it might -- 220,000 ain't shabby.

Besides, Simpson retains bragging rights over older sis Jessica. The latter has yet to score a No. 1 album, despite career sales of 6.1 million -- 3 million more than Ashlee has sold to date.

Ray of light

Overall album sales are up over the same week of last year, albeit by a slim 0.8 per cent margin. It is the first time album volume beats that of a similarly dated week since the frame ending June 12 was up 1.7 per cent over the 2004 week that ended June 13.

This is the fourth time since September that six or more albums entered the top 10. Prior to this run, there had been only four occasions since 1994 when six or more did so.

- REUTERS