Christina Aguilera's Bionic enters The Billboard 200 at #3. It's the pop veteran's fourth consecutive studio album to debut in the top five, though it fell short of her first three releases, all of which debuted at #1 or #2. Bionic sold 111,000 copies in its first week, which is less than one-third of what Aguilera's last studio album, Back To Basics, sold in its first week in August 2006 (346,000). And that was a two-disc album.





Granted, sales aren't what they were in 2006. But just in the past 12 months, 12 albums by female stars have managed bigger openings. And not all of these women are hot newcomers, such as Susan Boyle and Ke$ha. Five of the female artists who have gotten off to faster starts in the past year have been around even longer than Aguilera (Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige and Monica).

The disappointing showing of "Not Myself Tonight," the first single from the album, is taking a toll. The song entered the Hot 100 at #23 in the May 1 issue, but dropped out of the top 40 the following week. Last week, it dropped off the chart altogether.

By contrast, "Genie In A Bottle," the first single from Aguilera's eponymous 1999 debut album, logged five weeks at #1. "Ain't No Other Man," the lead single from her last studio album, Back To Basics, hit #6. "Keeps Gettin' Better," the single from Aguilera's 2008 hits compilation of the same name, reached #7.

A dud first single was the last thing Aguilera needed as she set out to compete with the new female stars who have emerged in the nearly four years since her last studio album. Chief among them: Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Ke$ha.

This doesn't mean it's all over for the album. "Dirrty," the first song released from Aguilera's second album, Stripped, stalled at #48. And then "Beautiful," the second song from the album, rose to #2 and brought Aguilera a Grammy. Aguilera may have better luck with the title song, "Bionic," which enters the Hot 100 at #66 this week.

Aguilera is off to a faster start in the U.K., where Bionic debuts at #1. It's her second studio album in a row to start out at #1 in that key market.

"California Gurls" by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg this week becomes the first song to top the 300,000 mark in digital sales more than once in 2010. The summertime smash sold 359,000 copies, up from last week's 318,000. "California Gurls" is the first song to top 300K more than once since Ke$ha's "TiK ToK" and Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," both of which did it in the last two chart weeks of 2009. (Digital sales always swell over the holidays, as fans redeem gift cards.) The only songs to top 300K more than once without the built-in bump of a holiday week are Flo Rida's "Right Round" (which did it four times in 2009) and the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" (which did it twice last year).