On the Charts: Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" Continues Big Sales Trend

The Big News: As predicted, Coldplay's Viva La Vida cruised to the top, selling 722,000 copies in its debut week. Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III followed up a million-selling week by placing second with 308,000 copies, a 69% sales drop. Still, the big weeks by Coldplay and Weezy represent only the second time in Soundscan history that two different albums had sales over 700,000 in consecutive weeks. The feat was last accomplished in May 2000, when Britney Spears' Oops... I Did It Again and Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP both sold over a million in their debut weeks. Rounding out the top five, the soundtrack for Camp Rock came in at three, NOW 28 took four and Plies' Definition of Real bowed at five.

Debuts: It's not quite a debut, but the reissue of Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad helped the album jump from 124 to seven. A trifecta of debuts claimed the 9-10-11 spots, with Katy Perry's One of the Boys, the Offspring's Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace and Judas Priest's Nostradamus all shifting units in the 40Ks. On the indie front, Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer claimed 46 despite an early leak and the Hold Steady's Stay Positive entered at 170 in its first week of digital-only release.

Last Week's Heroes: Despite the big decrease in sales, Lil Wayne was still a hero, as the 308,000 he sold in his second week would definitely claim the number one slot any other non-Coldplay week. With six new entries in this week's top eleven, there was a lot of shuffling. My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges was the biggest victim, dropping from nine to 24. And congratulations Rock N Roll Jesus, as Kid Rock's album went platinum in its 37th week.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

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