In another slow week of sales, Matchbox Twenty”s “North” bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the rock band”s first at the summit. The effort moved 95,000 copies, and is the first full-length in ten years from the band. Their previous “More Than You Think You Are,” out in 2002, debuted and peaked at No. 6, but with 178,000 in its first week.
Alt-rock troupe Imagine Dragons bow at No. 2 with its “Night Visions,” selling 83,000. Sales were helped in part by the popularity of their single “It”s Time,” plus sales stickers at iTunes and Amazon MP#.
Christian rapper Lecrae”s “Gravity” enters at No. 3 with 72,000. It”s a sales and charting high for the hip-hop artist, as his previous best sales tally was 27,000 with the release of “Rehab” in 2010 and his charting peak was “Rehab: The Overdose” at No. 15 in 2011.
TobyMac, a fellow Christian artist, sees his chart-topping “Eye On It” dip from No. 1 to No. 8 (26,000, -5%).
“Now 43” sits tight at No. 4 (35,000 -14%), Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away” climbs No. 8 to No. 5 (29,000, +7%), Maroon 5’s “Overexposed” stays at No. 6 (29,000, -5%), 2 Chainz’s “Based on a T.R.U. Story” holds on to No. 7 (26,000, -13%) and Trey Songz’s “Chapter V” descends No. 3 to No. 9 (24,000, -43%).
Cat Power earns the songwriter a new high-water mark for charting with “Sun” as it debuts at No. 10 with 23,000. Her previous best was with the No. 12 peak of 2008’s “Jukebox”; that album had a better starting sales number with 29,000.
Album sales this week are down 3% compared to the same week last year, and down 13% compared to the same week last year. Sales for the year are down 5% so far.