On the Charts: Metallica On Top, Darius Rucker Makes Big Splash
The Big News: Metallica managed to fend off both Ne-Yo and Nelly, as Death Magnetic held its throne atop the charts for the second consecutive week. Magnetic sold another 337,000 in its first full week, pushing its ten day total to 827,000. Ne-Yo’s Year of the Gentleman grabbed second place with a quarter million copies sold. Nelly’s Brass Knuckles, the rapper’s first album since 2004, only managed to sell 84,000 copies to take third place. (By comparison, Nelly’s double disc Suit and Sweat managed to sell a combined 700,000 copies the week it was released in 2004, which was good for #1 and #2 on the charts.) Kid Rock’s unkillable Rock N Roll Jesus hung around at four, but the biggest news of the week may be former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker‘s country album Learn To Live, which moved 60,000 copies to round out the top five (and was good enough to top the Country chart).
Debuts: Outside the top five, DJ Khaled’s We Global landed at number seven, just ahead of Buckcherry’s Black Butterfly at eight. Raphael Saadiq’s first album in four years, The Way I See It settled in at 19, Welsh singer Jem landed at 43 with Down To Earth and American Idol contestant Kristy Lee Cook took 49 with Why Wait.
Last Week’s Heroes: The Jonas Brothers’ A Little While Longer, Slipknot’s All Hope is Gone and the Mamma Mia soundtrack all dropped out of the top ten this week. Jessica Simpson’s foray into country music Do You Know suffered the biggest drop, descending from four to 18 in its second week. Congratulations to Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus, which turned double platinum just two weeks shy of its one year birthday.
Related Stories:
• Album Review: Metallica, Death Magnetic (4 stars)
• Album Review: Nelly, Brass Knuckles (3 stars)
• Album Review: Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman (4 stars)