On the Charts: Lady Antebellum Score Best Sales of Young 2010

The Big News: Lady Antebellum scored the best sales week of the new decade so far as their second album Need You Know debuted at Number One on the Billboard Top 200 with 481,000. Need You Know, the follow-up to Lady Antebellum's platinum self-titled debut, marks the first time the Grammy-nominated country trio has topped the charts. At Number Two, the Hope For Haiti Now was downloaded another 143,000 times last week according to Nielsen SoundScan, a mere 16 percent decrease from last week's Number One total.

In its 66th week on the charts, sales of Lady Gaga's The Fame increased 10 percent to boost the album into Number Three. Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream found itself outside the Top Two for the first time in 10 weeks by landing at Number Four, and Barry Manilow's Greatest Love Songs of All Time debuted at Number Five with 57,000 copies. The release of the DVD for Michael Jackson's This Is It helped bump the soundtrack from Number 17 to Number Six.

Debuts: Corinne Baylor Rae's The Sea bowed at Number Seven with 53,000 copies, while the Kidz Bop 17 collection hit the charts at Number 12. Further down the Top 200, Never Shout Never's What is Love? debuted at 24, Patty Griffin's Downtown Church entered at Number 37 and Charlotte Gainsbourg's Beck-assisted IRM debuted at 66 with 8,700 copies.

Last Week's Heroes: The Top 10 was decidedly less indie this week as both Spoon's Transference — Number Four last week to Number 27 this week — and Vampire Weekend's Contra — Six to 19 — fell out of the upper tier. Motion City Soundtrack were the victims of the biggest drop, however, as My Dinosaur Life plummeted from Number 15 in its debut last week to 81 thanks to a 74 percent sales dive. Next week, we'll find out how the Grammy victories for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift rub off on I Am… Sasha Fierce and Fearless. This week, they were Number 34 and Number 16, respectively.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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