Chicago rockers Disturbed have upset the Dixie Chicks’ three-week run as chart champs, selling more than 283,000 copies of their second album to debut atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday.
The riff-wielding quartet has come a long way in its short career. Disturbed’s 2000 debut, The Sickness, while eventually selling more than 2.6 million copies, took nearly two months to crack the chart after its release.
What’s even more impressive is that Disturbed’s first-place showing came without an unavoidable, playlist-friendly video. The clip for the LP’s first single, “Prayer,” encountered restrictions because it was deemed insensitive by some in the wake of 9/11. The curbing proved irrelevant, however, as radio embraced the song and Disturbed’s camp used well-placed TV ads to show fans portions of the apocalyptic clip, which is included as a bonus on the disc.
Disturbed’s chart debut pushes the Dixie Chicks’ Home and Avril Lavigne’s Let Go down to #2 and #3, respectively. Nelly’s Nellyville holds on to #4 for a fourth straight week, while Eminem’s The Eminem Show slides past it to #5.
The “Growing Pains” hurt so good for Ludacris’ posse, Disturbing Tha Peace. The Dirty South sextet take the #6 position with their debut LP, Golden Grain, which sold more than 95,000 copies.
If Lifehouse were nondescript with their last album, No Name Face, its follow-up, Stanley Climbfall, is becoming a household name – at least to the more than 74,000 folks who bought it last week. Jason Wade and company land at #7 with more than 74,000 copies sold, thanks in part to the first single, “Spin.”
Softie soprano sax player Kenny G’s Paradise lands at #9, while Enrique Iglesias’ Spanish-language album, Quizas, takes the #12 slot to round out the week’s top-20 debuts. Quizas follows Iglesias’ immensely successful English-language Escape, which sold more than 3 million copies.
The remainder of the week’s top 10 includes Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me, dropping one spot to #8, and former #1 country boy Toby Keith’s Unleashed, falling five spots to #10, while also breaking the 1 million mark in total sales.
A reissue of John Mayer’s 1999 debut EP, Inside Wants Out, comes in at #22 with more than 35,000 in sales, while the singer/songwriter’s full-length debut, Room for Squares, sits just a few places ahead at #19.
With the band on a U.S. tour through October 24, Our Lady Peace’s Gravity makes a mighty chart leap from #70 to #51 after seeing an increase in weekly sales of more than 3,000 copies. And former underground darlings turned You Hear It First buzz band Interpol reaped the benefit of nationally televised exposure coupled with critical fawning, moving from #187 to #158 with Turn on the Bright Lights.
Other notable chart debuts include Natalie Cole’s Ask a Woman Who Knows at #32; Disneymania, featuring A*Teens, Aaron Carter and ‘NSYNC covering Disney staples, at #61; Nickelback hand-holders Theory of a Dead Man’s self-titled debut at #85; Chicago’s OK Go’s eponymous LP at #107; and Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch’s solo venture, Now You Know, at #177.
