On the Charts: Daughtry's "Town" Ends King of Pop's Reign

The Big News: Daughtry ended the King of Pop's reign atop Comprehensive Albums as the former American Idol contestant's second album Leave This Town sold 269,000 copies take Number One on that chart as well as the Top 200. While Town managed to top the charts in its debut week — something Daughtry's four-times platinum self-titled LP couldn't accomplish — its predecessor managed better first-week sales in 2007, with 304,000 copies. Michael Jackson once again had three albums crack 100,000K, with Number Ones, Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller landing Two-Three-Four respectively on the Comprehensive Albums chart, which figured six MJ releases in its Top 10.

Over on the Top 200 list, where Jackson's albums are ineligible, Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night, which debuted at Number One last week, finished behind Daughtry at Two with an additional 103,000 copies sold. The Hannah Montana 3 soundtrack dropped from Two last week to Three, Now 31 dropped from Three last week to Four and the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. held their position at Number Five.

Debuts: Sticking with the Top 200 list, Jack White's latest side project the Dead Weather scored Number Six in its first week as Horehound sold 50,000 copies, a mere 1,000 copies more than the week's Number Seven album, Joe's Signature. Twista's Category 5 grabbed Number Eight to be the Top 10's last debut record. Further down, the latest Harry Potter soundtrack took Number 29, Clutch's Strange Cousins From the West secured 38 and the twee-tastic (500) Days of Summer soundtrack entered at 99.

Last Week's Heroes: For the past month, Jackson's catalog has been a savior for the struggling music industry during a slow sales season. However, the binge on Jackson releases showed signs of slowing as Jackson's entire discography was down double-digit percentages from the previous week. While Jackson and Jackson 5-related releases continue to hold all of the Top 12 positions on the Catalog Albums charts, sales of Number Ones dropped 45 percent from the previous week, while Thriller suffered a 57 percent loss. Next week, we'll see if Daughtry can hold off Jackson and fellow Idol contestant Jordin Sparks' Battlefield to remain Number One.

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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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