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The Big News: You know a movie is going to be huge when the soundtrack tops the sales charts before the film is even released. Twilight mania begins early as the Paramore-lead soundtrack unseated AC/DC’s Black Ice after a two week reign, selling 165,000 copies before the film even hits theaters next Friday. Black Ice fell short of the top spot by a mere 5,000 copies and settled in at number two. Another soundtrack, High School Musical 3, claimed third for the second consecutive week, while Hinder’s Take It To The Limit discovered that the limit would be 81,000 copies and a spot at number four. Rounding out the top five was Pink’s Funhouse, which dropped down from two last week thanks to a 60% sales decline.

Debuts: Outside of the vampire flick and Hinder, Q-Tip’s The Renaissance debuted at 11. (more…)

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The Big News: AC/DC kept their stronghold on the top spot as Black Ice sold another 270,000 copies to surge past the platinum mark. Pink’s Funhouse debuted at number two with 180,000 copies. After the High School Musical 3 soundtrack at three, two more debuts rounded out the top five, with John Legend’s Evolver selling 133,000 to claim four and Toby Keith’s That Don’t Make Me a Bad Guy at five. In other news, T.I.’s Paper Trail followed the path to platinum with a million copies sold in five weeks.

Debuts: The chart was loaded with rookies as the holiday release schedule kicks into gear. Snow Patrol’s A Hundred Million Suns and Ryan Adams’ Cardinology bowed at nine and 11. (more…)

The Big News: As predicted, AC/DC stormed to the top of the charts as Wal-Mart registers were ablaze with the beeps of 784,000 copies of Black Ice sold. The total ranks second to only Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III in terms of best first week sales this year. For AC/DC, it was their biggest-selling first week in their history on the sales charts and the first time they sat atop the Billboard chart since 1981’s For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). High School Musical 3 enjoyed a good week, first topping the box office and then selling 296,000 copies of the soundtrack to land at number two. Rounding out the top five were T.I.’s Paper Trail, last week’s champ Kenny Chesney and Metallica’s Death Magnetic.

Debuts: Judging by the weak slate of debuts, record companies opted to avoid the bulldozing Black Ice and High School Musical franchise. (more…)

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The Big News: Kenny Chesney took over the sales throne, selling 176,000 copies of his Lucky Old Sun and ending T.I.’s two-week reign as Paper Trail dropped to second place. Ray LaMontagne enjoyed his best debut ever as Gossip in the Grain placed at number three. Despite a sales decrease from last week, Metallica’s Death Magnetic rose from five to four, switching places with Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled debut.

Debuts: UK mope rockers Keane and their Perfect Symmetry took seventh place and Lucinda Williams’ Little Honey rounded out our top ten debuts at number nine. (more…)

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. (more…)

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The Big News: Debuts were the big story this week, with six new albums crashing this week’s top ten. T.I.’s Paper Trail set the pace, selling 568,000 copies in its first week to dethrone Metallica’s Death Magnetic. Death dropped down to number five, as Jennifer Hudson’s self-titled album, Robin Thicke’s Something Else and James Taylor’s Covers followed T.I. in the second, third and fourth positions. There was consolation for Metallica, however, as Death Magnetic surpassed the platinum-selling plateau in its fourth week.

Debuts: Jack Mannequin’s Glass Passenger and the self-titled record by former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler finished in eight and nine. (more…)

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The Big News: Metallica held off three big debuts to hold onto the Number One spot, as Death Magnetic sold another 132,000 copies to stay atop the charts for the third consecutive week. Disney’s newest export Demi Lovato grabbed Number Two thanks to the 89,000 Camp Rock fans who bought her album Don’t Forget. The Pussycat Dolls ranked fourth with Doll Domination and Kings of Leon scored their best chart position ever as Only by the Night entered at five with 74,000 copies sold. The band’s previous best rank was 25 with last year’s Because of the Times. Ne-Yo’s Year of the Gentleman dropped from two to three. NOTE: Sales figures for this week have been revised — original reports had Kings of Leon in fourth and the Dolls in fifth.

Debuts: It was a big week for the rookies with many high-profile releases. TV on the Radio’s third album Dear Science entered at number 12, while Jackson Browne’s Time the Conqueror claimed 20, just edging the Cold War Kids’ Loyalty to Loyalty. (more…)

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The Big News: Metallica managed to fend off both Ne-Yo and Nelly, as Death Magnetic held its throne atop the charts for the second consecutive week. Magnetic sold another 337,000 in its first full week, pushing its ten day total to 827,000. Ne-Yo’s Year of the Gentleman grabbed second place with a quarter million copies sold. Nelly’s Brass Knuckles, the rapper’s first album since 2004, only managed to sell 84,000 copies to take third place. (By comparison, Nelly’s double disc Suit and Sweat managed to sell a combined 700,000 copies the week it was released in 2004, which was good for #1 and #2 on the charts.) Kid Rock’s unkillable Rock N Roll Jesus hung around at four, but the biggest news of the week may be former Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker’s country album Learn To Live, which moved 60,000 copies to round out the top five (and was good enough to top the Country chart).

Debuts: Outside the top five, DJ Khaled’s We Global landed at number seven, just ahead of Buckcherry’s Black Butterfly at eight. (more…)

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The Big News: Metallica only needed four days to storm to the top of the charts, as the current cover boys sold 490,000 copies since its Friday release. While the shortened week prevented the band from setting a personal one-week sales record, they did manage to sell 400,000 more copies than the number two record, Young Jeezy’s The Recession. Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus stayed embedded at three, while Jessica Simpson’s country music crossover Do You Know scored fourth with 65,000 copies sold. Slipknot’s All Hope Is Gone rounded out our top five.

Debuts: LL Cool J’s Exit 13 led the second wave of debuts, coming in at nine with 44,000 copies, or a third of the copies LL’s Todd Smith sold in its first week in 2006. (more…)

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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. (more…)

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The Big News: It was a wild week at the top of the charts. Initial reports showed that a mere 13 copies separated this week’s first and second place albums, with the Game’s LAX outpacing Slipknot’s All Hope is Gone. However, Nielson SoundScan broke out their calculators and determined that Slipknot did in fact outsell the Game last week, thus awarding Slipknot this week’s top spot and placing the Game at two. The margin of victory has not yet been announced. The slug out at the top unseated the Jonas Brothers’ A Little Bit Longer, which dropped from one to four. Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus downshifted from two to three and the Mamma Mia soundtrack rounded out the top five.

Debuts: Outside the top two, other notable debuts included the Now That’s What I Call Country! comp at seven, Solange Knowles’ Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams at nine and metal act Dragonforce’s Ultra Beatdown claiming 18. (more…)

The Big News: The Jonas Brothers held onto first place for the second straight week despite a 72% sales decline, selling an additional 146,000 copies of A Little Bit Longer. But the biggest news was the continued renaissance of Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus, with the year-old album moving from three last week to two thanks to another 100K copies sold. A pair of debuts and a film soundtrack rounded out the top five, with Staind’s Illusion of Progress and Ice Cube’s Raw Footage at three and five sandwiching the Mamma Mia soundtrack at four.

Debuts: Other than Staind and Cube, the chart was rife with low impact debuts, with Shwayze’s self-titled first album leading the charge at 10. (more…)

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The Big News: As predicted, the Jonas Brothers‘ A Little Bit Longer cruised to the top spot in its debut week, selling 525,000 copies, which was roughly 416,000 more copies than the week’s number two album, the Mamma Mia soundtrack. Also interesting to note was that the Jonas’s self-titled second album also cracked the top ten despite coming out last year, meaning Jonas Bros. fans are either really hardcore about supporting the band or really confused about which album was the new album. The surprise renaissance of Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus moved up to the three spot, Miley Cyrus‘ Breakout grabbed four and Sugarland’s Love On the Inside rounded off our top five.

Debuts: After the Jonas, there wasn’t much. Daddy Yankee’s Talento De Barrio, the soundtrack of the film that Daddy Yankee is starring in, entered the charts at 13. (more…)

The Big News: On the strength of a movie that came out over a month ago, the Mamma Mia! soundtrack stormed to the top of the charts with an additional 130,000 people spending money on the soundtrack instead of just buying ABBA Gold (which of course sits at the top of the catalog charts). Miley Cyrus‘ Breakout clung to two for a second consecutive week, beating out last week’s chart champ Sugarland’s Love On the Inside, which dropped to three. Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus held on at four for a third straight week, maintaing chart dominance after a whopping 44 weeks on the list (more on that below). Interesting to note is M.I.A.’s Kala, which rose from 151 to 62 to 45 in a three week span, all thanks to that Pineapple Express trailer. Not bad for an album that came out a year ago.

Debuts: The debut front was weak, as the only rookie of note in the top ten was Lloyd’s Lessons in Love came in at seven with 51,000 copies sold. (more…)

The Big News: A week after running-up to Miley Cyrus, country band Sugarland overtook the teen sensation to claim the number one spot as their Love on the Inside pushed 171,000 in its second week. Cyrus’ Breakout settled for second, selling another 162,000 copies. The top five was rounded out by the usual suspects, with the Mamma Mia soundtrack, Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus and Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III claiming the remaining places. Weezy’s TC3 also pushed past the two million sales after eight weeks on the charts.

Debuts: Praise rockers Third Day led a relatively weak crop of debuts, selling 74,000 to lock up sixth place. (more…)