"Weird Al" Gets White & Nerdy All Over the Charts

We could talk about the fact that Ludacris debuted at Number One this week, selling 309,284 copies of Release Therapy so far, or that Janet Jackson came in at Number Two, with 296,278 copies of 20 Y.O. sold. But all we really care about is the new "Weird Al" Yankovic album Straight Outta Lynwood. The record debuted in the Number 10 slot this week selling 72,600 copies and marking — according to Wikipedia, anyway — Yankovic's highest chart debut ever.

Also of note in this week's charts? The whole Jake Shears vs. FYE snafu wasn't enough to keep the Scissor Sisters' new album Ta-Dah from scoring pretty high. It came in at Number 19 moving 41,992 copies in its first week. And random chart success Snow Patrol increased their sales this week by 13 percent selling 31,948 copies of their album Eyes Open and holding fast to their Number 29 spot.

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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