Coldplay Heat Up Chart
Coldplay‘s much-hyped third album, X&Y, sold 737,000 copies its opening week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to top the chart. The British band’s hefty sales figure is the best by a rock act this year, easily topping the Dave Matthews Band’s “Stand Up,” which moved 465,000 copies a month ago.
Black Eyed Peas staked out Number Two this week, selling 291,000 copies of Monkey Business. This is a watershed moment for the Los Angeles hip-hoppers, as 2003’s Elephunk debuted at a measly Thirty-Three. And at Number Three are Detroit garage-rock duo the White Stripes with their fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan (189,000), also scoring them their highest opening yet.
Columbian superstar Shakira came in at Number Four with her new Spanish-language album, Fijacion Oral Vol. 1(157,000). This is a slightly weaker first week than her English-language debut, 2001’s Laundry Service, which came in at Number Three — but look for the companion album of new English-language songs, Oral Fixation Vol. 2, due in November, to have a stronger showing.
Meanwhile, Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi is still forging ahead in its ninth week, selling another 151,000 copies to take Number Five, down four spots from her return to the top spot last week. Los Angeles metal act System of a Down’s Mezmerize (the first half of a double album) also dropped four places, to Number Six (86,000); and country star Toby Keith’s latest, Honkytonk University, slipped three spots to Seven (72,000). And Gwen Stefani’s solo debut, Love, Angel, Music, Baby, shows no signs of quitting the Top Ten, down three places to come in at Number Eight (71,000).
There were no train wrecks this week, but some significant Top Ten dropouts: Dave Matthews Band’s sixth studio album, Stand Up, went down five spots to Twelve (61,000) in its fifth week, and Chicago rapper Common’s comeback, the Kanye West-produced Be, slid from Six to Fourteen (51,000) in its third week. A bit more red-faced this week are Brit pop rockers Oasis, whose would-be return to the top, Don’t Believe the Truth, fell a whopping twenty-five places from its respectable Number Twelve debut to Number Thirty-Seven (27,000) in just its second week. And poor Kelly Osbourne’s sophomore album, Sleeping in the Nothing, debuted in a galaxy far, far away: Number 117 (9,000).
Next week, expect Coldplay to keep doing their thing. But watch out for the return of Foo Fighters, who bring their double disc In Your Honor into the fray. And never underestimate the commercial wallop packed by that original boy band the Backstreet Boys, who reunite, all growed-up, on Never Gone.
This week’s Top Ten: Coldplay’s X&Y; Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business; the White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan; Shakira’s Fijacion Oral Vol. 1; Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi; System of a Down’s Mezmerize; Toby Keith’s Honkytonk University; Gwen Stefani’s Love, Angel, Music, Baby; Kelly Clarkson’s Breakaway; Audioslave’s Out of Exile.