Rapper J. Cole displaces Tony Bennett at the top of the Billboard 200, flying in with “Cole World: The Sideline Story” at No. 1. The artist”s Roc Nation/Columbia debut moved 218,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Right behind is Blink-182″s comeback album “Neighborhoods,” bowing with 151,000 at No. 2. The pop-punk band”s last studio album, their 2003 self-titled set, debuted and peaked at No. 3 with 313,000 copies.
Adele”s “21” sits tight at No. 3 with 118,000, a 1% sales increase. Bennett”s “Duets II” dips No. 1 to No. 4 (91,000, -49%).
Wilco”s new “The Whole Love” enters at No. 5 with 82,000. Their last “Wilco (The Album)” made it to No. 4 with 99,000. This fresh set is the band”s first on their own label, dBpm.
Lady Antebellum”s “Own the Night” falls No. 2 to No. 6 (75,000, -40%) while Lil Wayne”s “Tha Carter IV” descends No. 5 to No. 7 (68,000, -20%).
Switchfoot”s “Vice Verses” debuts at No. 8 with 45,000, making it their second-best charting set. Their last, 2009″s “Hello Hurricane,” topped out at No. 13 with 39,000; their 2005 album “Nothing Is Sound” peaked at No. 3 with 131,000.
Chickenfoot – the rock super-group featuring Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith – starts at No. 9 with “Chickenfoot III,” selling 42,000 units. Contrary to its title, it is the sophomore set from the troupe — their first, self-titled album scored a No. 4 entry with 52,000 in 2009.
And, just FYI, that’s two artists with the word “foot” in their name to make it into the top tier.
Metal group Mastodon earns its first top 10 set with “The Hunter,” which debuts at No. 10 with 39,000. Their 2009 “Crack the Skye” only made it to No. 11, but with 41,000.
Two much-ballyhooed reissue also made a run for the top tier this week: Pink Floyd”s “Dark Side of the Moon” rallied back onto the chart to No. 12 with 26,000 copies (+3,607%) while Nirvana”s “Nevermind” zoomed up No. 146 to No. 13 with 25,000 (+647%).
Album sales for the week are up 5% compared to last week and up 5% compared to the same week last year. Sales for the year are up 3% so far.