On the Charts: Young Jeezy Fights Off NKOTB, Game and Slipknot

The Big News: Thankfully for Young Jeezy, the actual recession didn't prevent his album The Recession from claiming the top spot with 260,000 copies sold. New Kids on the Block sit at a distant second with their reunion album The Block, which moved sold 95,000 units. The Game's LAX sank one spot down to three, Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus slotted at four and last week's champ, Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone, dropped down to five.

Debuts: Metal act Underoath took the eight spot with their sixth album Lost in the Sound of Seperation, Christian singer Chris Tomlin worshipped his way to nine with Hello Love and Diddy underling Donnie Klang debuted at 19 with Just Like A Rolling Stone. Also noteworthy, Brian Wilson's That Lucky Old Sun grabbed 21 and actor Terrence Howard made his non-Hustle & Flow chart debut at 31 with Shine Throught It.

Last Week Heroes: Slipknot lost their slim hold on first place thanks in part to a 69% sales decrease. Other than that, the top ten stayed mostly unified, with the only drastic drop being Solange's Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams, which fell from nine down to 28. Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III also found itself teetering on the brink of falling out of the top ten, though Weezy's pants-dropping performance at the VMAs should give him a boost next week.

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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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