On the Charts: Conchords Fly Above Ashlee, Land Below Mariah and Leona

The Big News: An engagement and a (possible) pregnancy wasn't enough to help Ashlee Simpson, as the singer's new album Bittersweet World landed at number four with 47,387 copies sold. Simpson was beat out by Mariah Carey's E=MC², which took number one for a second consecutive week, Leona Lewis' Spirit at two and, surprisingly, Flight of the Conchords' self-titled debut, which grabbed the third spot with 52,133 copies sold. That's right: Pete Wentz's fiancee got edged by the comic duo who were on the show that followed Big Love on HBO. Atmosphere's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold rounded out the top five in its debut week.

Debuts: Story of the Year's Black Swan scooped eighteen, the Weepies' Hideaway took thirty-one and Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy's H.N.I.C. Part 2 claimed thirty-six, giving the jailed rapper something to brag about to the other inmates. Tokyo Police Club's freshman Elephant Shell nabbed 106, while Elbow's Seldom Seen Kid placed in at 109.

Last Week Heroes: Carey and Lewis remained in the one-two spot. R.E.M.'s Accelerate finally fell out of the top ten after a month, dropping to seventeen, along with the suddenly-mortal Alvin & the Chipmunks soundtrack, which dropped to twelve. But the biggest drop from last week goes to Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live and Thrice's Alchemy Index: Vol. 3-4, as Rush plunged from eighteen to 110 and Thrice followed from seventeen to 111. Also, shoulder-bearing Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana 2 soundtrack went triple-platinum.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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