Young Jeezy Debuts Big

Young Jeezy's major-label debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, opened at Number Two this week, selling 172,000 CDs, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Atlanta rapper, a member of the Boyz N Da Hood crew, came in just behind the nineteenth installment of Now That's What I Call Music! The blockbuster hits compilation series -- this time around featuring Gwen Stefani, Eminem, Destiny's Child and Coldplay -- sold 236,000 copies to hold onto Number One.

At Number Three, down one place from last week, is diva Mariah Carey, whose The Emancipation of Mimi will not release its grip on the Top Five, nearly four months out of the gate. Carey is, oddly enough, followed by edgy Boston standup comedian Dane Cook, whose performance CD Retaliation moved 86,000 CDs. And rounding out the Top Five is singer-songwriter Jason Mraz' third studio effort, Mr. A-Z (81,000).

At Six is British rockers Coldplay, whose X&Y, is beginning a slow decline in sales, moving 73,000 copies in its seventh week. Monkey Business, from dance-friendly hip-hoppers Black Eyed Peas, is down one to Number Seven (68,000), and Demon Days, from Blur frontman Damon Albarn's hip-hop/dub animated concept band Gorillaz, continues its upwards momentum, climbing a spot to Eight (59,000).

Nine and Ten go to R&B veterans: R. Kelly's TP.3 Reloaded (59,000), and the debut of crooner Babyface's first album in four years, Grown and Sexy (56,000).

Rapper Bow Wow's latest "mature" release, Wanted, dropped eight spots in its third week, from Number Five to Thirteen (47,000), and rockers the Foo Fighters' In Your Honor fell four places to also drop out of the Top Ten, to Number Fourteen (46,000). Up-and-coming rapper Slim Thug's solo debut, Already Platinum, shows few signs of actually going platinum, having dropped a substantial seventeen places in its third week, from Number Twelve to Number Twenty-nine (34,000).

Next week, expect the latest from country crossover Faith Hill, Fireflies, to battle Now! for the top spot.

This week's Top Ten: Now That's What I Call Music! 19; Young Jeezy's Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101; Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi; Dane Cook's Retaliation; Jason Mraz' Mr. A-Z; Coldplay's X&Y; Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business; Gorillaz' Demon Days; R. Kelly's TP.3 Reloaded; Babyface's Grown and Sexy.

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

More Song Stories entries »

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