On the Charts: Neil Diamond Rides Multi-Pronged Push to Number One

The Big News: Perhaps thanks to a guest mentorship on American Idol, soundtracking Boston Red Sox victories, that Urge Overkill cover in Pulp Fiction or a last minute surge for Mother's Day gifts, Neil Diamond's Rick Rubin-produced Home Before Dark topped the charts this week with 145,840 copies sold. Last week's champ Madonna's Hard Candy was knocked down to the third spot, selling 94,177 copies in its second week. Former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken also got a rub from his old show (and probably a Mother's Day surge as well) as On My Way Here debuted at four, while Mariah Carey's E=MC² rounded out the top five.

Debuts: Country music dominated as Toby Keith's 35 Biggest Hits entered at number two and Dierks Bentley's Greatest Hits bowed at nine. Mom favorites Gavin DeGraw and Josh Groban came in at seven and eight. Tokio Hotel's American debut Scream took the thirty-nine spot with 15,811 copies, while the compact disc version of Elvis Costello's Momofuku debuted at fifty-nine. And in an unprecedented moment in charts history, Animal Collective's Water Curses EP topped the Singles chart.

Last Week's Heroes: Hard Candy took the biggest hit, dropping sixty-six-percent in sales in a week where only three of last week's top ten held steady. Portishead's Third fell from seven to twenty-four, the Roots' Rising Down rolled from six to twenty-eight and Tom Petty's Mudcrutch plummeted from eight to fifty-three.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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