On the Charts: "High School Musical 2" Continues Dominance, Talib Kweli Grabs Career-Best Debut

The Big News: Get used to seeing the High School Musical 2 soundtrack near the top of the charts for a while: In its second week of release, the tween juggernaut sold 367,055 copies -- more than six times the tally of the number-two album, Talib Kweli's Eardrum, which sold 60,479 in its first week of release. The Hannah Montana 2 soundtrack continued to benefit from the influx of kids in a record-buying mood, finishing at number three, while the Hairspray soundtrack and Now! 25 hits collection rounded out the top five.

Debuts: Besides Kweli, who had the biggest debut of his career, Swizz Beatz made an impressive entry, selling 45,163 to finish at number seven, and metal heroes As I Lay Dying moved 39,490 units to land at number eight. M.I.A.'s sophomore LP Kala opened at number eighteen, Rilo Kiley hit the charts at twenty-two and New Pornographers came in at thirty-four.

Last Week's Sales Heroes?: Fergie remains a top-ten fixture, finishing at number six this week, as does number-nine Nickelback, who have been on the charts for ninety-nine weeks with All the Right Reasons. Texas hip-hop duo UGK hold on at number ten in their third week of release.

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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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