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The Best Damn Thing

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Untitled

The Best Damn Thing is the third studio album by Canadian pop punk singer Avril Lavigne. The album was released in North America and part of Europe on April 17, 2007, and in Australia and in the United Kingdom on April 16. It made its radio debut on Ottawa radio station HOT 89.9 at 6:00 pm on April 14.

The album's first single was the number-one hit "Girlfriend", the second single is "When You're Gone", the third single is "Hot", and "The Best Damn Thing" has been anounced as the fourth single due for release on the April 25, 2008. It also includes "Keep Holding On", a single from the soundtrack of the film Eragon. The album was certified Platinum in the United States. It is certified double Platinum worldwide according to the United World Chart[1] s of December 12, 2007. "The Best Damn Thing" has sold over 4.1 million copies worldwide according to the United World Chart and globally it was the sixth biggest selling album for 2007.[2]

Album information

Lavigne described the record as "fast, fun, young, bratty, aggressive, confident, cocky in a playful way...all the good stuff."[3] It is produced by Dr. Luke, Lavigne's husband Deryck Whibley, Butch Walker and Lavigne herself.[4][5] Travis Barker (Box Car Racer, blink-182, +44, Transplants, Expensive Taste, Aquabats) has also recorded drums for the album.

The standard version of the album, released on April 14, has all the profanities censored. This applies to the songs: "Girlfriend", "I Can Do Better", "Everything Back but You" and "I Don't Have to Try". In "I Can Do Better", all uses of the word shit are replaced with a shhh sound, but the line "You're so full of shit" is changed to "You're so full of it", and in "Everything Back but You" the words bitch and slut (in the chorus line "...bitch, slut, psycho babe, I hate you...") are replaced with hey, similar to those in "Girlfriend". Also, the lyric "Get ready, motherfucker" is replaced with double "get ready" in "I Don't Have to Try". The term motherfucking is used in the track "Girlfriend". In some radio edits of the song, this is changed to "one and only". The word "bitch" is unedited on the song "Runaway". Only the Deluxe and Limited Edition versions contain the unedited, explicit versions of the songs. This version of the album bears the Parental Advisory label because of the instances of profanity. It was Lavigne's first album in the U.S. to bear the label; in some markets the label was used on her second album, Under My Skin (2004).[6] Because of this, and because the album title contains the word damn, some children's radio stations (e.g. Radio Disney) that previously played Lavigne's music are not playing her new singles.

In an interview on Much Music, Lavigne stated that, after numerous photoshoots, she could not choose a suitable image for the album's cover. Lavigne's husband, Deryck Whibley, took the photo which appears on the cover on the side of the road in a suburb of Los Angeles, which was taken in a "spur of the moment" decision by the couple.

Promotion

The first single, "Girlfriend", was to be released on January 29, but the date was changed because of the then-increasing popularity of "Keep Holding On" on the radio.[citation needed] The single premiered on Ottawa radio station HOT 89.9 on February 6, and the video debuted on February 26. Evan, her former guitarist, said in his MySpace blog that he makes a cameo in the "Girlfriend" video. "Girlfriend" is available in seven other languages, the only difference from the English version being the chorus translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian, German and French.

Lavigne has been doing a small tour to promote The Best Damn Thing. Only members of her fan club were allowed to attend the shows. She kicked off the small tour in Calgary, Alberta, and played for a crowd of around 200. The Calgary show aired on television on April 2, 2007, on the CBC Network. On this show, one could see behind-the-scenes footage and Lavigne performing songs from The Best Damn Thing, as well as other shows in Los Angeles, Paris and Madrid. She also held autograph signings in New York City and Hollywood after the album was released.

On February 18, 2007, clips of "Everything Back But You", "I Can Do Better" and "When You're Gone" were released on AOL Music.[7] The track "Alone" (the B-side of "Girlfriend") was made available for download on the iTunes Store in New Zealand and Australia on March 29. On April 4, 2007, the album was leaked onto the internet and was made available to download on many file sharing sites. The whole album made its radio debut on Ottawa radio station HOT 89.9 at 6:00 pm on April 14, 2007.

On July 6, 2007, Lavigne performed the song "Hot" on The Friday Night Project in the UK.

On September 11, 2007, Lavigne appeared on the season finale of Canadian Idol 2007 and performed Hot and When You're Gone. She received standing ovations from the audience after both these performances. On the show, Lavigne stated that she will be on tour in North America (Canada first) in March-April 2008.

"The Best Damn Tour" starts March 5th, 2008 in Canada. The tour will first go through Canada and USA, and Sony BMG has confirmed that Avril will be in Europe in June/July. Boys Like Girls will be the musical guest as it stated on her official MySpace site.

Plagiarism allegations

In a June 2007 interview with the magazine Performing Songwriter, Chantal Kreviazuk, who collaborated with Lavigne on the album Under My Skin, stated that Lavigne "doesn't really sit and write [songs] by herself or anything", and that because she "[will] cross the ethical line" without complaint from others, Kreviazuk refused to work with her again. She said she sent Lavigne a song she had written titled "Contagious" in 2005, and that she noticed the track listing of The Best Damn Thing features a song called "Contagious" on which Kreviazuk is not credited. "What do you do with that?", she said.[8] On July 10, 2007, Kreviazuk retracted the statements she made in the aforementioned interview.[9] On the website of The Black List Club, Evan Taubenfeld said that he and Lavigne had co-written "Contagious" for him to record, but that it sounded better when recorded by Lavigne.[10]

On July 2, 2007, songwriters for the U.S. band The Rubinoos filed a lawsuit against Lavigne, her publishing company and Dr. Luke, stating that the song "Girlfriend" was very similar to The Rubinoos' 1970s single "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend".[11] On July 6, Lavigne denied The Rubinoos' and Kreviazuk's accusations in an open letter on her website, writing that she had "never heard the [Rubinoos] song in [her] life" and that she was considering taking legal action against Kreviazuk with regards to her allegations, which she considered "damaging to my reputation and a clear defamation of my character."[12]

On July 10, the song "I Don't Have to Try" sparked further plagiarism speculation, after Perez Hilton and Rolling Stone noted similarities between it and Peaches's 2003 song "I'm the Kinda".[13]

Chart performance and sales

The Best Damn Thing sold 19,000 copies in a few hours in the UK,[citation needed] eventually selling over 60,000 copies in its first week. It became Lavigne's third number-one album on the UK Albums Chart. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with about 289,000 copies sold, less than Under My Skin, which sold 381,000 in its first week. This is Lavigne's second number-one album, after Under My Skin.[14] The Best Damn Thing remained at number-one in its second week on the chart, selling about 121,000 copies.[15]

In Canada, the album debuted at number one with 68,000 copies sold, slightly more than Under My Skin. In its second week, there was a 62% sales drop to around 26,000 copies.The album has sold 320,000+ in Canada. In Australia, The Best Damn Thing debuted on the ARIA Albums Chart at number two and shipped over 35,000 copies, being accredited Gold by ARIA; it was Lavigne's first album not to reach number-one. It has been certified 2x Platinum.

In Japan, it debuted at number two. In its second week of release, after Lavigne's Music Station performance, it reached the number-one spot, selling 120,000 copies. This is her second number-one album in Japan. In it's chart run, it sold 850,307 copies and was the 3rd best selling album of the year, and the only western album in the top 25. It peaked on the Taiwanese Albums Chart at number-one, and it had already been certified Gold within three days when the album was available for pre-order. It went Platinum when it was released to stores. In Spain, The Best Damn Thing debuted at number nine, lower than Under My Skin, which debuted at number one.

The album debuted at number-one in over twenty countries. So far, 4.1 million copies of the album have been sold, according to the United World Chart.[16]

Singles and other tracks

Before the release of "Girlfriend", "Keep Holding On" was released as a single from the Eragon soundtrack in North America, charting at number seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Girlfriend" made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number five in March 2007. This is Lavigne's highest debut on that chart.[17] On April 1, 2007, "Girlfriend" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone, rising twenty-one places from the previous week. This is her highest chart position in the UK so far, ahead of her first single, "Complicated", which reached a peak of number three. On May 5, "Girlfriend" reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, the same week that The Best Damn Thing debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. This is Lavigne's first number-one single in the United States; her previous peak was with "Complicated", which peaked at number two in 2002.

On March 8, 2007, Lavigne announced on Kiss FM that "When You're Gone" would be the second single released from The Best Damn Thing. The single debuted at number ninety on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song "Hot" has been reported to be the third single from the album, and Avril Lavigne has shot the video clip for the single already. "Hot" has a planned release of October 10 in Japan. The Japanese physical single will feature "Girlfriend" (The Submarines' Time Warp '66 mix) and an acoustic version of "When You're Gone" as its B-sides.[18][19] The track "Innocence" is played on satellite radio in the U.S and on various radio stations in Canada. Innocence is rumoured to be the 4th single as it is currently #155 on mediabase with 17 spins.[citation needed] Songs that were not released as singles appeared on some Billboard charts. The title track "The Best Damn Thing" debuted at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 and at number ninety-one on the Pop 100; "Runaway" debuted at number eleven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 and at number ninety-four on the Pop 100; and "Innocence" debuted at number sixteen on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.[20][21] In a similar fashion, some album tracks debuted inside the top 200 on the UK Singles Chart: "Keep Holding On" debuted at number 175, "When You're Gone" at number 117 and "Innocence" at number 190.[22]

The bonus track "I Will Be" was also recorded by Leona Lewis for her debut album Spirit, which was released in the UK on November 12, 2007.

It has been confirmed by Dr. Luke that "The Best Damn Thing" is the new single.[23]

Track listing

Charts

Sales and certifications

Notes:

1 - Sales up till end of December 2007.
2 - Japan sales still charting, 37,000 additional to UWC eoy figure. eoy was 863,957[53]
3 - South Korean sales additional to United World Chart, as UWC do not count South Korean sales[54]

Creditation Levels Worldwide as per IFPI Table on Worldwide Certifications[55]


Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
April 28, 2007 - May 12, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK Albums Chart number-one album
April 22, 2007 - April 29, 2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
cartoon KAT-TUN II You by KAT-TUN
 Japan Oricon Charts number-one album
April 25, 2007 - May 02, 2007 		Succeeded by
THE BEST of mihimaru GT by mihimaru GT
Preceded by United World Chart number-one album
April 28, 2007 - May 12, 2007 		Succeeded by

Release dates

The Best Damn Thing was released in a number of countries during April 2007.

References

  1. ^ [1] Mediatraffic.de
  2. ^ http://www.mediatraffic.de/year-end-albums.htm
  3. ^ "MTV News -". MTV. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  4. ^ Third album at MTV News
  5. ^ Kaufman, Gil (2006). "Butch Walker Works With Avril, Hot Hot Heat, Says Solo LP Won't Be 'Emo-Tastic'" (jhtml). MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  6. ^ Avrillavigne.com
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ Chantal Kreviazuk in Performer Songwriter
  9. ^ Billboard
  10. ^ The Black List Club official site
  11. ^ CBC.ca
  12. ^ Lavigne, Avril (2007). "To My Dear Media, Friends, and Fans". Avril Lavigne. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
  13. ^ Did Avril Lavigne Bite a Peaches Track Too?
  14. ^ a b Katie Hasty, "Lavigne's New 'Thing' Debuts Atop Billboard 200", Billboard.com, April 25 2007.
  15. ^ Katie Hasty, "Lavigne Remains No. 1 As Joe Debuts High", Billboard.com, May 2 2007.
  16. ^ http://www.mediatraffic.de/year-end-albums.htm Album copies sold
  17. ^ Jonathan Cohen, "Mims Remains 'Hot' At No. 1, Akon Stays Close", Billboard.com, March 8 2007.
  18. ^ Neowing.co.jp Retrieved on 2007-07-31
  19. ^ CDJournal Retrieved on 2007-07-31
  20. ^ Billboard.com Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Retrieved on 2007-05-17
  21. ^ Billboard.com Artist Chart History: Avril Lavigne Retrieved on 2007-05-17
  22. ^ UK Top 200 Singles
  23. ^ AvrilBandaids.com Retrieved on 2008-02-07
  24. ^ Canadian Album Charts
  25. ^ Brazilian Albums Chart
  26. ^ Official UK Albums Chart
  27. ^ Greek International Albums Chart
  28. ^ [3] FIMI
  29. ^ Irish Albums Chart for week ended 19 Apr 2007 ChartTrack.co.uk
  30. ^ [4] Oricon
  31. ^ Venezuelan Albums Sales Chart
  32. ^ Mexican Albums Chart (May 21, 2007)
  33. ^ Switzerland Hitparade Top 100 Albums
  34. ^ Swedish Album Chart
  35. ^ Australian Albums Chart for week ended 23 Apr 2007 ARIA Charts
  36. ^ Spain Albums Chart
  37. ^ [5]
  38. ^ Swisscharts - Awards 2007
  39. ^ a b c d e f g h i IFPI Worldwide Certification Levels
  40. ^ Polish Gold Certifications (ZPAV)
  41. ^ [6]
  42. ^ Official SonyBMG Blog in Taiwan
  43. ^ Mexican Certification for "The Best Damn Thing"
  44. ^ MAHASZ Hungary Certifications 2007
  45. ^ from the Official New Zealand Albums Chart Top 40 Album Chart: Chart #1581 - 10 September 2007
  46. ^ IFPI Germany Certifications Searchable Database
  47. ^ Capif
  48. ^ ARIA Album Creditations 2007
  49. ^ Canadian Soundscan Report End of Year 2007. Reuters.com
  50. ^ Japan Weekly Charts - アヴリル・ラヴィーン 「ベスト・ダム・シングRetrieved: 15 February 2008
  51. ^ BPI - Statistics - Certified Awards
  52. ^ [7]
  53. ^ Japan Charts - Week 447, #24
  54. ^ United World Chart - Methodologies
  55. ^ IFPI Table on Worlwide Certifications


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