New blood at the top of the chart, y’all! The Top 2 albums both sell over 100,000 units as well (with Eminem at #3 just short of six figures). Leading the charge is Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”, which starts off with 192,000 units. While some might think that a small number in light of “California Gurlz” being inescapable this summer, it’s also worth nothing that this is more than 4 times what Katy’s debut album started with, and “I Kissed a Girl” was every bit as ubiquitous as “California” was (and a lot more controversial, to boot). Following Katy is Fantasia, whose third album, “Back to Me”, starts at #2 with 117K. For an “American Idol” “elder”, that’s a pretty steep number, as the only “Idol” vet  (from Fantasia’s season or before) who could even dream to approach those numbers these days is Kelly Clarkson. Fantasia also debuts at #1 on the R&B album chart, wresting the throne away from Eminem after a 9-week run at the top with “Recovery”.

Other debuts this week are Usher’s “Versus” at #4 (“Raymond v. Raymond” vaults back into the Top 20, landing at #19) and country vets Little Big Town at #5. The rest of the debuts come from acts who aren’t quite mass appeal: country new comers The Randy Rogers Band start at #8, followed by rockers Devil Wears Prada at #10 and Never Shout Never at #14. The Top 20’s remaining debut comes from contemporary Christian performer Jeremy Camp at #15.

News of upcoming releases is most likely the catalyst for the jumps experienced by the debut albums from Taylor Swift ( #115, +18%) and Kid Cudi (#81, +8%). In yet the latest example of persistence paying off, Cudi is just a few short weeks away from a Gold plaque for his freshman effort, which had a decent but not Earth-shattering debut and has pretty much just kinda hung around since with consistent sales week in and week out. There’s also a big jump for “The Best of Santana”, which re-enters the chart at #185 on a 294% increase. I’d have to imagine there was some sort of Deal of the Day action going on there, but there’s also a new Santana project ready to be released, so that most likely affected numbers as well.

Next week, expect the top spot to go to either the new Disturbed album or the latest “Now” compilation. If I was a betting man, I’d bet the numbers would be very similar respectively to the numbers Katy and Fantasia started with this week. It’ll also be interesting to see what kind of numbers Ms. Perry posts in her second week out.

Here’s this week’s Top 20:

1) “Teenage Dream” Katy Perry
2) “Back to Me” Fantasia
3) “Recovery” Eminem
4) “Versus” Usher
5) “The Reason Why” Little Big Town
6) “Intimacy” Kem
7) “My World 2.0” Justin Bieber
8) “Burning the Day” Randy Rogers Band
9) “God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise” Ray LaMontagne
10) “Zombie EP” Devil Wears Prada
11) “Cowboy’s Back in Town” Trace Adkins
12) “Need You Now” Lady Antebellum
13) “Kidz Bop 18” Kidz Bop Kids
14) “Harmony” Never Shout Never
15) “We Cry Out: The Worship Project” Jeremy Camp
16) “The Suburbs” Arcade Fire
17) “Teflon Don” Rick Ross
18) “Thank Me Later” Drake
19) “Raymond v. Raymond” Usher
20) “The Final Frontier” Iron Maiden