Kings of Leon Topped by Sugarland on ‘Billboard’ Albums Chart
Kings of Leon may have enjoyed their best U.S. sales week ever with
Come Around Sundown
‘s debut frame, but it was country duo Sugarland that topped the
Billboard 200 chart this week, as their Incredible Machine sold 203,000 copies in its first week. The Kings, whose Number Two placement is their career best to date, sold 184,000 copies of their fifth album, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
While both albums fought it out all week long for the top spot, neither is likely to top next week’s chart, as Taylor Swift’s just-released
Speak Now
is expected to sell between 800,000 and 900,000 copies in its first week, giving it an easy victory for next week’s Number One and setting the 2010 record for best sales week thus far.
Random Notes: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Elton John
Elton John also secured his best chart spot since 1976’s Blue Moves, as his collaborative album with Leon Russell,
The Union
, entered the Billboard 200 at Number Three with 80,000 copies sold. Coming in at Number Four with just 1,000 fewer sales than Elton was another Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Rod Stewart, with his latest covers set, Fly Me to the Moon.
Last week’s top-seller, the physical release of Lil Wayne’s I Am Not a Human Being EP, dropped to Number Five. The
Rocky Horror-themed soundtrack to Glee
debuted at Number Six.
Overall, the Top 200 was down 10 percent compared to the same sales week in 2009, but good news will come soon in the arrival of Speak Now.