With a Bullet: Special Amy Winehouse Platinum Edition

It seems like ages ago, but it was actually on January 16 of this year that a 23-year-old British chanteuse named Amy Winehouse happened to give her first U.S. performance anywhere on our very own live program The Interface, during which she sang four songs. Not only were we taken with her obscenely soulful pipes propelling her gritty, heartbreaking songs, which updated Detroit soul and Brill Building girl-group sass for a new audience, there was her unmistakable persona to reckon with as well.

How could we resist this gal? Not only was Winehouse a dental student's dream, we also dug her rail-thin body supporting that ratty Ronettes beehive and sporting those shore-leave tattoos. In addition, her candid and unabashed affection for the fermented beverages (both in songs like 'Rehab' and in her day-to-day) was refreshing in an age of stage-managed coyness and, worse, stage-managed rebellion. And despite recent headlines of troubles with more potent substances, we've continue to admire her honesty and humanity and wish her good health and happiness.

Accordingly, this week's space, normally used to discuss chart debuts as well as the week's biggest climbers and fallers, instead has been given over in its entirety to celebrate the platinum status of Amy's superb 'Back to Black' album, which as of this past weekend has sold 1,027,000 copies, with a peak position of No. 6 since its understated U.S. debut on March 13. Our Weekly Winehouse Watch feature debuted at the same time as this column, once we noticed that 'Back to Black' was steadily selling in the 35,000-45,000 range every week, with the occasional weekly spike to around 60,000.

It was evident in this day of albums hitting the chart heights and then falling precipitously off in two weeks that 'Back to Black' was steadily finding its audience and methodically reaching some lofty goals. It was a pleasant enough surprise when the album went gold on June 10, and now that our favorite femme has reached official superstar status to go with her already prodigiously evident superstar talents, we aren't too humble to carry her around on our virtual shoulders for a grand chorus of hurrahs!

Stay tuned for With a Bullet's Double Platinum Gala in the not-too-distant future, when we will expend a column's worth of words parsing Amy's run-amok eye makeup.

The top five albums for the week ending August 12:

1. 'Underground Kingz,' UGK (161,000 in 1st week)
   
2. 'Real Testament,' Plies (97,000 in 1st week)
   
3. 'Now 25,' Various Artists (86,000 in 4th week; 581,000 total)
4. 'Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus,' Soundtrack (75,000 in 7th week; 1,004,000 total)
5. 'Jonas Brothers,' Jonas Brothers (69,000 in 1st week)

Download Amy Winehouse Podcast

Amy Winehouse Live Concert

Amy Winehouse Pictures