Dave Grohl, for me, has always been one of the most likeable guys in rock. There are no “Grohl is a tool” stories (that I’m aware of)-he looks and acts like a fairly normal guy, and I think he holds the same appeal for most other music fans. Which is why I, like so many other music fans, am extremely psyched that the Foo Fighters score their first #1 album EVER with Wasting Light‘s entry this week. 16 years after their debut hit stores, the Foos have a chart topper, scanning nearly 235,000 units of their seventh album in it’s first week. Congrats to the guys for their chart feat-the most notable in a very busy chart week.
There are four new albums in the Top 10 and 7 new albums in the Top 20 this week-debuts are everywhere. Alison Krauss scores the highest non-Robert Plant-related debut in her history with her latest, Paper Airplane. It scans a shade under 83,000 units to land at the #3 spot behind Foo Fighters and the inexhaustible Adele (whose sales actually bump upwards this week with 21, which is seriously starting to look phenomenon-ish). The legendary Paul Simon starts at #4 with So Beautiful or So What, while Spanish rock titans Mana round out the Top 5 with Drama Y Luz. British newcomer Jessie J (#11), Brooklyn art-rockers TV on the Radio (who, sadly, lost their bass player Gerard Smith earlier in the week) (#12), Midwestern rap duo Atmosphere (#13) and the soundtrack to “Lemonade Mouth” (it’s a Disney thing-#18) round out the Top 20’s debuts.
Over on the singles chart, history is made as Rihanna moves to the top spot with her latest single, “S&M”. It’s lift to the top can be directly attributed to the new remix, co-starring Britney Spears. It’s, somewhat amazingly, Rihanna’s tenth #1 single. Granted, it’s a lot easier to hit the top these days due to collaborations, “featuring” spots and what not, but Ri-Ri amassed double-figure chart toppers more quickly than any artist in history save for The Supremes and The Beatles-less than five years have passed since her first #1 (“S.O.S.”) and her latest. She is one of only 9 artists in history to score 10 or more #1 singles, putting her in pretty illustrious company: the others in that group are The aforementioned Beatles & Supremes, plus Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Madonna and Janet Jackson.
I’d expect Rihanna’s stay at the top to be quite short lived, since Lady GaGa’s “Judas” will have a full week’s worth of sales and airplay behind it. As it stands, with only three days of sales in the tracking week, it starts at #10 on the combined sales and airplay chart, and #4 on the digital sales chart, shifting 162,000 units. A bounce in sales, coupled with erosion on the part of Rihanna (since the bump in sales was due to an “event”) could very well earn GaGa yet another chart topper.
Check out the Top 20 albums after the jump.
1) Wasting Light-Foo Fighters
2) 21-Adele
3) Paper Airplane-Allison Krauss & Union Station
4) So Beautiful or So What-Paul Simon
5) Drama Y Luz-Mana
6) Femme Fatale-Britney Spears
7) Songs for Japan-Various Artists
8) Rolling Papers-Wiz Khalifa
9) F.A.M.E.-Chris Brown
10) Sigh No More-Mumford and Sons
11) Who You Are-Jessie J.
12) Nine Types of Light-TV on the Radio
13) Family Sign-Atmosphere
14) Hello Fear-Kirk Franklin
15) My Kinda Party-Jason Aldean
16) American Tragedy-Hollywood Undead
17) Loud-Rihanna
18-Lemonade Mouth Soundtrack-Various Artists
19) I Remember Me-Jennifer Hudson
20) Teenage Dream-Katy Perry
2 comments
Drew says:
Apr 21, 2011
Some notes:
1. Your number 8 always converts to the smiley face with sunglasses, which is kinda unfortunate this particular week, it seems.
2. I love your blog for a number of reasons, one of which is that I know when albums are coming out. Atmosphere and TVotR, here I come! Perhaps not so much, Lemonade Mouth soundtrack.
blerd says:
Apr 21, 2011
Heh. Have you heard the Wiz Khalifa CD? I haven’t.