Photo: Kohen/WireImage

The Big News: On the strength of hit single “Boom Boom Pow,” the Black Eyed Peas cruised to the top of the sales chart as The E.N.D. just eclipsed 304,000 copies, giving Fergie, Will.i.am and the rest of the Peas the first Number One album in the group’s career (2004’s Monkey Business peaked at Two.) Dave Matthews Band’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, last week’s champ, settled into the Number Two spot with an additional 128,000 copies, while Eminem’s Relapse passed the platinum mark in its fourth week and took third place. Rock supergroup Chickenfoot’s self-titled disc remained in fourth for the second consecutive week, with Bronx Bachata group Aventura and Last debuting at Five.

Debuts: Two more debuts managed to crack the Top 10 as Mos Def’s The Ecstatic scored Nine with 39,000 copies and Pleasure P’s Introduction of Marcus Cooper took 10. Nearly 30 years and 16 albums into their storied career, Sonic Youth claim the best charts debut in their history as their latest masterpiece The Eternal entered the charts at 18. Last week’s Breaking artist the Dirty Projectors came in at 65 with Bitte Orca.

Last Week’s Heroes: They still managed to surpass 100,000 copies sold this week, but DMB suffered a massive 70 percent drop in sales from their debut week. Lady Gaga’s The Fame also crossed the million copies threshold this week, thanks to some wildly consistent sales: Our Hot Diva sold exactly 46,773 copies this week after selling 46,753 last week. In this space next week, we’ll find out if the Jonas Brothers have what it takes to score one of the biggest debuts of 2009 with Lines, Vines and Trying Times.