Creed Still on Top

For the second week in a row, everywhere you go, the kids wanna rock. That's right, Creed -- with a gaudy sales tally of 417,000 (according to SoundScan) -- are again atop the nation's album chart with their third album, Weathered.

The album has moved more than 1.3 million copies in its first two weeks in stores, an impressive number in any year and especially in one of the worst the record business has ever seen.

But it wasn't all about the hard stuff this week: The chart's two biggest debuts were by hip-hoppers. Ludacris' Word of Mouf moved 282,000 copies to enter at Number Three -- just behind the hits collection Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 8 -- and Busta Rhymes locked up the Number Seven spot with his new one, Genesis. The other notable newcomers were the Paul McCartney-led Concert for New York live album (Number Twenty-seven) and Smash Mouth's self-titled third album (Number Forty-eight).

The holiday season is proving to be a shelter from the autumn sales chill, as twenty albums moved more than 100,000 copies this past week. As well as picking up the latest from the Britneys, Kid Rocks and -- yep -- Enyas, shoppers are loading up on the seasonal fare, as Now That's What I Call Christmas! (featuring new tracks from 'N Sync, Joe and Ms. Spears) and Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Extraordinaire are both nestled in the Top Ten.

This week's Top Ten: Creed's Weathered; Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 8; Ludacris' Word of Mouf; Garth Brooks' Scarecrow; Britney Spears' Britney; Now That's What I Call Christmas!; Busta Rhymes' Genesis; Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Extraordinaire; Enya's Day Without Rain; and Enrique Iglesias' Escape.

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  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
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  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
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  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
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  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

More Song Stories entries »

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