On the Charts: Kelly Clarkson's "All I Ever Wanted" Grabs Top Spot From U2

The Big News: U2's reign atop the charts was short-lived as Kelly Clarkson's All I Ever Wanted sold 254,000 copies, giving the former American Idol champ her first Number One since her 2003 debut Thankful. Despite landing at the top spot, All I Ever Wanted sold less in its first week than her 2007 release, My December, which moved 291,000 and peaked at Number Two. The-Dream's second album Love vs. Money sold roughly 100,000 fewer copies than Clarkson's but enough to wind up in second place — a vast improvement over the Number 30 peak of his debut album Love Hate. U2's No Line on the Horizon dropped down to third; J. Holiday's Round 2 debuted at four and Taylor Swift's mercurial Fearless landed at five.

Debuts: Outside of the top five, Chris Cornell's Scream, Trent Reznor's favorite album of the year, entered the charts at 10. Also infiltrating the charts was New Found Glory's Not Without a Fight at 12, Punk Goes Pop, Vol. 2 at 15 and Taylor Hicks' The Distance down at 58. Despite being a digital-only release, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz did well enough to appear at 32 with 13,000 in sales.

Last Week's Heroes: With a plunge in sales of 73 percent, No Line on the Horizon was the week's biggest loser, dropping from first place to third. Neko Case's Middle Cyclone, which surprised pretty much everyone by grabbing Number Three in its debut week, dropped to the 17th spot in its second week. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, had a good week: her self-titled 2006 debut crossed the four million sales plateau last week and Fearless is poised to go triple platinum by this time next week.

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

More Song Stories entries »

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