Brandy’s ‘Two Eleven’ album cover.

Brandy’s promotional strategy of delivering a cluster of performances during the release week of her ‘Two Eleven’ album has cost her dearly on the US charts. However, as her record slipped to the edge of the Billboard 200 top 10, Taylor Swift has taken command of the #1 slot.

‘Two Eleven’ sold a minor 22K copies at the #10 position of the Billboard 200 this week, raising its total sales figure to 87K. Brandy performed on several television shows when the album first hit stores, including ‘LIVE! With Kelly & Michael’ and ’106 & Park’, but has since disappeared from the media spotlight.

Swift, on the other hand, is enjoying the results of having an extended promotional push that spanned several months. The Country singer’s ‘Red’ album has entered the Billboard 200 with a stunning 1.21 million copies sold – 1.208 million, to be exact - for the largest sales week since Eminem’s ‘The Eminem Show’ sold 1.32 million upon entering the chart in 2002.

Already claiming the title of the year’s 3rd highest-selling album, behind only Adele’s ’21′ (4.11 million) and One Direction’s ‘Up All Night’ (1.32 million), ‘Red’ has also earned Swift another special distinction. She is now the only woman in US history to have multiple albums sell over 1 million copies in their opening weeks. Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ set sold 1.05 million when it first cracked the Billboard 200 in 2010.

One other female artist made waves on the US charts this week. Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ pierced the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 at #5, thus ranking her 5th among women with the most such hits – she has 16 – following Madonna (28), Mariah Carey (26), Janet Jackson (24) and Whitney Houston (19).

See the leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. Taylor Swift – ‘Red’ – 1.21 M (debut)

2. Kendrick Lamar - ‘Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City’ – 241K  (debut)

3. Jason Aldean - ‘Night Train’ – 116K (total: 525K)

4. Mumford & Sons – ‘Babel’ – 53K (total: 991K)

5. Tony Bennett – ‘Viva Duets’ – 36K (debut)

6. Gary Clark Jr. – ‘Blak & Blu’ – 35K (debut)

7. Stone Sour – ‘House of Gold & Bones – Part 1′ -31K (debut)

8. Pink – ‘The Truth About Love’ – 25K (total: 519K)

9. Lady Antebellum – ‘On This Winter’s Night’ – 25K (debut)

10. Brandy – ‘Two Eleven’ – 22K (total: 87K)

Billboard Hot 100

1. Maroon 5 – ‘One More Night’

2. PSY – ‘Gangnam Style’

3. fun. – ‘Some Nights’

4. Ke$ha – ‘Die Young’

5. Rihanna – ‘Diamonds’

6. Justin Bieber – ‘As Long As You Love Me (Ft. Big Sean)’

7. Bruno Mars – ‘Locked Out of Heaven’

8. Alex Clare – ‘Too Close’

9. Ne-Yo – ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’

10. Chris Brown – ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’

Listen to Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’, which she will perform on ‘Saturday Night Live’ on November 10th, below:

Thoughts?