October 11, 2007

Bruce Springsteen Clobbers Soulja Boy, J. Holiday For Eighth Career No.1 Debut

By Chris Harris (MTV.com)

They don't call Bruce Springsteen "the Boss" for nothing.

With Magic, Springsteen's 15th studio album and his first with the E Street Band since 2002's The Rising, the pride of the Garden State freewheeled his way to Billboard's peak, easily notching the eighth No. 1 opener of his 34-year career.

The Boss faced virtually no competition in his quest for No. 1, selling more than 335,000 copies of his latest during the record's first week in stores, according to the latest SoundScan totals. The closest threat to the Boss' chart domination, the parents of last week's No. 1 LP, country trio Rascal Flatts, finished at No. 2 on next week's albums sales chart, having generated sales of 167,900 (on the nose) for Still Feels Good. Following the Flatts at No. 3 is another new entry, Matchbox Twenty's retrospective offering, Exile on Mainstream, which sold nearly 130,900 units.

He's got the No. 1 single in the nation, but 16-year-old rapper Soulja Boy's debut album, Souljaboytellem.com, will have to settle for No. 4 on next week's top 200, thanks to sales of more than 117,000. That was one of 28 new releases to debut on the chart, and one of five to enter in the top five. R&B artist J. Holiday's Back of My Lac' was another, opening at No. 5 with 105,000 scans. Annie Lennox's Songs of Mass Destruction is also new to this most recent chart, coming in at No. 9 with 78,300 copies sold.