Rockers Tool, Pearl Jam Top the Chart
Tool beat out Pearl Jam — by a whopping margin — to take the Number One chart spot this week, selling 564,000 copies of 10,000 Days, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The first album since a four year hiatus, Days makes for the prog-metal band’s second consecutive chart-topper. Seattle rockers Pearl Jam’s self-titled album (their first release in four years) sold 279,000 to land at Number Two, meaning that the “Curse of the Number Two Debut” has now lasted a decade. (Pearl Jam’s last Number One was 1996’s No Code.)
Veteran Queens rap duo Mobb Deep clocked in at Number Three (106,000) with their latest, Blood Money. On their new album, featuring collaborator 50 Cent, MCs Prodigy and Havoc rap, “You can’t be mad at [50 Cent]/ He the one that made us rich!” — and no doubt they’re counting the blood money now. Other strong chart debuts include Alaskan pop folkie Jewel‘s fifth studio album, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, which bowed at Number Eight (82,000), continuing a string of Top Ten releases.
Bruce Springsteen’s critically acclaimed collection of Pete Seeger-inspired folk standards, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, continued to sell strong, dropping in its second week just six spots to Number Nine (75,000). And rounding out the Top Ten was country star Phil Vassar, who after just six years on the scene released his first greatest-hits compilation to score his highest chart position ever: Number Ten (65,000). Behold the power of country!
Starting the slippery slide down the chart were last week’s champs, mega-metal outfit Godsmack’s IV, which dropped to Number Seven (84,000). Long Island emo rockers Taking Back Sunday’s Louder Now dropped fourteen places to Sixteen (51,000), and dancehall babe and Jay-Z protege Rihanna saw her sophomore effort, A Girl Like Me, fall seven places in its second week, to a solid Number Twelve (60,000).
Further down the chart, more buzzy debuts came from fresh blood. New Jersey-based emo rockers Thursday’s A City by the Light Divided bowed at Number Twenty in its first week out, selling 46,000, while Australian hipster metal act Wolfmother‘s eponymous debut landed at Number Twenty-Two (37,000).
Tool better enjoy the Number One spot while they can, because next week the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ long-awaited, double-disc, Rick Rubin-produced album, Stadium Arcadium, will most definitely bow at Number One. If not, we will eat our collective hat.
This week’s Top Ten: Tool’s 10,000 Days; Pearl Jam’s Pearl Jam; Mobb Deep’s Blood Money; High School Musical: The Original Soundtrack; Rascal Flatts’ Me and My Gang; Now That’s What I Call Music! 21; Godsmack’s IV; Jewel’s Goodbye Alice in Wonderland; Bruce Springsteen’s We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions; Phil Vassar’s Greatest Hits, Volume One.