On the Charts: Chesney Takes Top Spot, LaMontagne Debuts Big

The Big News: Kenny Chesney took over the sales throne, selling 176,000 copies of his Lucky Old Sun and ending T.I.'s two-week reign as Paper Trail dropped to second place. Ray LaMontagne enjoyed his best debut ever as Gossip in the Grain placed at number three. Despite a sales decrease from last week, Metallica's Death Magnetic rose from five to four, switching places with Jennifer Hudson's self-titled debut.

Debuts: U.K. mope rockers Keane and their Perfect Symmetry took seventh place and Lucinda Williams' Little Honey rounded out our top ten debuts at number nine. Further down the list, Ingrid Michaelson's Be OK entered at 35, Copeland's You Are My Sunshine grabbed 48 and Christian metal act Haste the Day settled in at 68 with Dreamer.

Last Week's Heroes: It was another slow week for sales as the music world braced for the arrival of AC/DC's Black Ice and the unofficial kickoff to the blockbuster album season. The biggest casualties from last week? Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul plummeted from five to 36 and Rise Against's Appeal to Reason dropped fell from three to 19.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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