On the Charts: Rise Against Fight Off High Profile Premieres For Top Debut

The Big News: T.I.'s Paper Trail remains perched atop the Top 200 despite a 69 percent sales decrease, selling roughly 176,000 copies in its second week. Metallica's Death Magnetic jumped from five last week to two, adding another 65,000 copies to its already-platinum totals. Rise Against's Appeal to Reason fought off high profile new discs from Oasis and Bob Dylan to take the Number Three position as the week's top debut. Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul edged out Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs for the five and six slots. Jennifer Hudson's self-titled debut dropped from two last week to four this week to round out the top five.

Debuts: Tim McGraw's unauthorized Greatest Hits 3 milked the wallets of 44,000 fans to place ninth. Sarah McLachlan's best-of Closer took 11, the Pretenders' Break Up the Concrete grabbed 32 and the Clash's Live At Shea Stadium docked at 93. On the indie beat, the Streets slotted at 154 with Everything Is Borrowed and the Department of Eagles' In Ear Park nested at 166.

Last Week's Heroes: The majority of last week's leaders were hit by sales decreases in the 70 percent range in their second week, with the biggest victims being Ben Folds' Way To Normal (which dropped like an anvil from 11 to 54) and Robin Thicke's Something Else (which sank from three to 12). In fact, the top five albums this week combined sold less than Paper Trail sold last week. Expect anemic sales for another week before AC/DC's Black Ice provides a shot in the arm.

Related Stories:
• Album Review: Rise Against, Appeal to Reason
• Album Review: T.I., Paper Trail
• Album Review: Bob Dylan, Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8

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Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

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