On the Charts: Fabolous Paves “Loso’s Way” To Number One

The Big News: Michael Jackson once again outpaced the opposition in the sales race, but it was Fabolous’ Loso’s Way that ruled the Top 200, selling 98,000 copies and giving the rapper his first Number One debut. Fabolous’ last LP From Nothin’ to Somethin’ premiered at Number Two in 2007, but sold 159,000 in its first week. Only one album managed to finish with sales in excess of 100,000 copies this week: Michael Jackson’s Number Ones, which sold another 114,000 copies to finish atop the all-encompassing Comprehensive Albums chart and surpass the triple-platinum mark. (Jackson’s catalog albums are ineligible for the Top 200.)

Daughtry’s Leave This Town clung to the Number Two position on the Top 200 for a second consecutive week with 62,000 copies sold. At this point, despite the mega-selling Daughtry, the former American Idol contestant is being outpaced to platinum by Maxwell and his BLACKsummers’night, which came in at Number Three in its fourth week on the charts. Now 31 and the Black-Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. round out the Top Five. Also worth noting is the Kings of Leon and their Only By The Night, which jumped from Eight to Six as the former Rolling Stone cover stars passed the million-copies-sold barrier.

Jackson, meanwhile, continues to dominate the Comprehensive Albums chart as Essential Michael Jackson came in at Three (behind Loso’s Way) and Thriller charted at Five (behind Leave This Town.) Jackson’s solo and Jackson 5 discography continues to own the Top Catalog Albums chart, holding all Top Five and ten out of the top 11 spots on that chart.

Debuts: Other than Fabolous, no other rookies even cracked the Top 20. Kristinia DeBarge’s Exposed came the closest, entering the charts at 23 and 16,000 copies sold. After that, you need to travel all the way down to Number 148 and deathcore band Divine Heresy’s Bringer of Plagues to find a non-Spanish language or gospel debut.

Last Week’s Heroes: It was a very short-lived reign as Queen of the Charts for Demi Lovato and Here We Go Again, as the Disney star’s new disc dropped from Number One to Eight after seven days and a 64 percent sales drop. Former Idol champ Jordin Sparks’ Battlefield experienced a worse plummet, going from Seven in its debut to out of the Top 20 after only one week, landing at 21 after a 63 percent sales drop. Other than those two, and with the obvious lack of debuts, the Top 10 remained largely unchanged from the previous week. Meanwhile, after carrying the record industry on its back this summer, Jackson’s catalog finally show signs of sales dissipation as next week will likely feature the first time since the King of Pop’s death that one of his albums does not crack 100,000 copies in a week.