BROWN’S CASH COW

There but for Fortune goes RCA bad boy Chris Brown, as the controversial Grammy winner takes the top spot on this week’s HITS Album sales chart with 134k in sales.

The rest of this week’s Top 50 is seriously skewed by Amazon’s holiday 99-cent sale, which sent Capitol/EMI’s Katy Perry (#2, +451%), Fairfax/Republic’s Gotye (#25-6, +245%), Fueled by Ramen’s fun. (#19-7, +186%) and Nonesuch’s Black Keys (#10, +399%) soaring back into the upper reaches of the leader board. Perry’s Teenage Dream, of course, was also boosted by the opening of her 3-D documentary Part of Me, as well as the single, “Wide Awake,” climbing to #1 at iTunes.

Island/IDJ’s Justin Bieber (#3), last week’s topper in Warner Bros.’ Linkin Park (#4), A&M/Octone’s Maroon 5 (#5), Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville’s Kenny Chesney (#8) and XL/Columbia’s Adele 21 album (#9), heading towards 9.5 million in its 71st week, round out the Top 10.

New entries in the Top 50 include Atlantic’s Flo Rida (#14), 19/Interscope Idol winner Phillip Phillips’ Walmart exclusive EP (#25), Machete Music’s Wisin Y Yandel (#37) and Hillsong’s Hillsong Live (#45).

Other albums affected by the Amazon sale include Atlantic’s Jason Mraz (#41-12, +286%), Republic’s Of Monsters and Men (#39-16, +239%) and Florence & the Machine (#17, +439%), Sire’s Regina Spektor (#21, +383%), Interscope’s Elle Goulding (with a #22 debut, +457%), Mercury Nashville’s Lionel Richie (#34-23, +119%), Grand Hustle/Atlantic’s B.o.B (#44-25, +123%), Interscope’s Lana Del Rey (#27, +246%), Capitol/EMI’s Beach Boys (#43-29, +95%), Mercury/IDJ’s The Wanted (#30, +287%), Redwing’s Bonnie Raitt (#33, +177%), Warner Bros.’ Kimbra (#35, +368%) and Sub Pop’s Beach House (#38, +275).

Glassnote’s Mumford & Sons (#41) and 19/RCA’s Kelly Clarkson (#47) also re-enter the chart.

The biggest albums to hit this week are Atlantic’s Zac Brown Band, with Def Jam’s Frank Ocean as an iTunes exclusive before its physical bow next Tuesday (7/17) along with labelmate Nas, Razor & Tie’s Kidz Bop Kidz and WaterTower’s Dark Knight Rises soundtrack.