June 28, 2007

Bon Jovi Thump White Stripes To Score First No.1 Debut In Almost 20 Years

By Chris Harris (MTV.com)

Before this week, it had been nearly two decades since an album from the Garden State's Bon Jovi topped the Billboard albums chart. And few might have guessed that drought would end with Lost Highway, the band's 10th studio LP, with the White Stripes releasing their latest, Icky Thump, on the very same Tuesday.

But according to the latest SoundScan figures, Jon and the boys beat the odds, shattering everyone's expectations as Lost Highway clocked sales of more than 291,500, giving Bon Jovi the third No. 1 debut of their nearly 25-year career. The LP brought in the group's biggest one-week take since Nielsen began tracking sales back in 1991; the band's only other No. 1 openers were 1988's New Jersey and its 1986 breakthough, Slippery When Wet.

The White Stripes' sixth LP, Icky Thump, is hands-down the twosome's best-charting release to date, bowing at No. 2 with 223,000 scans, and it's also their best-selling debut, surpassing the success of 2005's Get Behind Me Satan (which opened at No. 3 with 189,000 sold) and 2003's Elephant (125,900 copies, to debut at No. 6). However, the group may have to hope that album number seven is the charm for a No. 1 debut.

Following the Stripes at No. 3 is the only other album to debut in next week's top 10, country crooner Brad Paisley's 5th Gear, which sold more than 197,000 units its first week in stores. Beyond that, the rest of the top 10 is full of repeat offenders. Falling three places to No. 4 is Toby Keith's Big Dog Daddy, selling another 73,400 copies, and at No. 5, slipping two spots, is Paul McCartney's Memory Almost Full, which scanned about 64,400 units. Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight spends a second straight week at No. 6, with 63,100 sold, while Amy Winehouse's Back to Black climbs three spots to No. 7 on 62,500 copies scanned.

Maroon 5's It Won't Be Soon Before Long drops four places to No. 8 (with 62,300 copies sold during the album's fifth week at retail), while Fabolous' From Nothin' to Somethin' slips from No. 2 to No. 9, with 58,900 in sales. Rounding out the top 10 is T-Pain's Epiphany, which netted week-three scans of close to 56,300.

In all, there were 15 new releases to make their debut on next week's chart, including the Atlanta rap act behind the hit single "Party Like a Rockstar," the Shop Boyz, whose LP Rockstar Mentality just missed the top 10 cut, finishing at No. 11 with 52,300 copies sold. At No. 14, with 48,700 scans, is the latest release from Lifehouse, Who We Are, while St. Louis rapper Huey's Notebook Paper scanned more than 28,800 units, to bow at No. 26. R&B songstress Chrisette Michele's I Am claims the chart's No. 29 opening on sales of around 26,500, followed at #30 by Mandy Moore's latest, Wild Hope, which sold 25,100 copies.

All the way down at No. 72 on next week's chart is the latest from Straylight Run, The Needles the Space, with sales of more than 9,800. Meanwhile, August Burns Red's Messengers opens at No. 81 on approximately 9,000 copies scanned. Project 86's latest set, Rival Factions, sold more than 6,000 copies, earning it the chart's No. 123 slot, followed immediately at No. 124 by the Polyphonic Spree's Fragile Army, which sold 17 fewer units. Anonymous, the new one from the Mike Patton-fronted Tomahawk, follows at No. 158, and finally, coming in at No. 175, is Deborah Cox's Destination Moon, which racked up sales of more than 4,500.