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

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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