Though he failed to join mentor Lil Wayne in the one milli club in his first week on the charts, there’s no shame in Drake’s game, as the Canadian rapper’s debut studio album, Thank Me Later will easily hit #1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of nearly 447,000.
That total was good enough to earn Drizzy the third-best chart debut of 2010 (behind Lady Antebellum and Sade). He bested the week’s other newcomers, veteran rock act Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, whose blues-inflected Mojo was far behind at #2 with 125,000, and fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan, who returns to the charts with Laws of Illusion, hitting #3 with 94,000 in sales. The fourth slot is taken up by Now 34, which sold 88,000, meaning Drake sold more than the rest of the top five combined, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.
There were no other debuts in the top 10, which undergoes a bit of shuffling: Jack Johnson’s To the Sea (#5, 68,000), the “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” soundtrack (#6, 55,000, down 63 percent), Justin Bieber’s My World 2.0 (#7, 47,000), Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now (#8, 40,000), Christina Aguilera’s Bionic (#9, 40,000, down 64 percent in week two) and Glee: The Music — Journey to Regionals (#10, 39,000), which plummeted by 75 percent from last week’s #1 showing.
Further down the line, tattooed Jersey rockers the Gaslight Anthem notch their best-ever chart debut with American Slang, which lit it up at #16 on sales of 27,000. The first new disc in 20 years from reunited new-wave spud rockers Devo, Something for Everybody, debuts at #30 (14,000).
The solo debut from Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy takes a hard tumble in week two, as Lazarus sinks 42 slots to #67 as sales dropped off by 57 percent to 7,000. The new album from Swedish pop singer Robyn, Body Talk Pt. 1, slides into the top 100 at #97 (5,000).
In case you doubted whether he still had it, Eminem rockets to the #2 position on this week’s iTunes album charts after only one day on shelves. Slim Shady’s Recovery nearly bested Drake’s Thank Me Later, which managed to hold onto the #1 slot, according to charts provided by iTunes, which does not release sales figures.
The one-two finish by the rappers pushes last week’s iTunes #1 album, Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals, down to #4, as another newcomer, McLachlan’s Laws of Illusion, slipped in at #3. Johnson’s To the Sea slipped one to #5, while Petty’s Mojo debuted at #6, and the rankings were filled out by the “Twilight” soundtrack, B.o.B.’s B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, Glee: The Music, Vol. 3: Showstoppers and Gaslight Anthem’s Slang, which debuted at #10.
On the iTunes singles chart, things were mostly unchanged, as Katy Perry held on at #1 with “California Gurls,” followed by the same suspects as last week: B.o.B. with “Airplanes,” Usher with “OMG,” Travie McCoy with “Billionaire” and Eminem’s “Not Afraid.” Climbing up to #6 was Mike Posner’s “Not Afraid,” followed by Ke$ha with “Your Love Is My Drug,” 3OH!3’s “My First Kiss,” the Black Eyed Peas’ “Rock That Body” and Drake’s “Find Your Love” at #10.
Look for things to get blown out next week, as Eminem’s Recovery vies for the top with Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed. Also in stores are new albums from Ozzy Osbourne, the Roots, Sia, Macy Gray, Cyndi Lauper, the Chemical Brothers and Keith Sweat.
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