Zeppelin Smashes Records As CD/DVDs Debut At No. 1
Led Zeppelin scores its first No. 1 album since 1979’s “In Through the Out Door” this week with the three-CD live set “How the West Was Won.” The Atlantic collection, which combines recordings from two 1972 California concerts, sold 154,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, and debuts on top of The Billboard 200.
“How the West Was Won” is the band’s third compilation since 1990 to reach the top-20 of the album chart: a 1990 boxed set entered at No. 18, and 1997’s “BBC Sessions” landed at No. 12.
The live album was released simultaneously with the “Led Zeppelin DVD,” which set a record for highest debut-week and highest single-week sales for a music DVD. The title sold 120,000 units in the U.S. to bow at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Music Videos chart. It easily broke the record previously held by Paul McCartney’s “Back in the U.S.” (Capitol), which sold 61,000 units in its debut week late last year.
This is the third week in a row a rock album has topped The Billboard 200, as releases from Marilyn Manson and the Deftones led the album tally in the past two weeks. The only other album on the chart to top 100,000 copies this week is 50 Cent’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” (Shady/Interscope). The album saw a 7% sales increase to 109,000 units, and rises 5-2 on the chart.
Evanescence’s “Fallen” gains one position to a new peak at No. 3 despite a 12% sales slip to 91,000 units. One of the year’s biggest success stories, the Wind-Up album has sold about 1.2 million units in its 13 weeks on the chart.
Kelly Clarkson’s RCA debut “Thankful” slips one to No. 4 on a 17% sales dip to 88,000 units. Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me” is back in the top-5 with a 7-5 jump, thanks to a 2% sales gain to 85,000 copies. The Disney soundtrack to “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” also received a 2% sales boost. With sales up slightly to 79,000 units, the soundtrack jumps two slots to No. 6.
Last week’s No. 1, Staind’s “14 Shades of Grey” (Flip/Elektra) falls to No. 7 on a 64% slide to sales of 79,000 units. The Murder Inc./Def Jam soundtrack to “2 Fast 2 Furious” parks at No. 8 on sales of 76,000 copies in its debut week. The hip-hop heavy compilation features selections from Ludacris, Lil’ Flip, and Fat Joe, among others. The soundtrack to the original “The Fast and the Furious” peaked in July 2001 at No. 7.
“The Very Best of Cher” (Geffen/MCA/Warner Bros.) edges up one slot to No. 9 on sales of 72,000 copies, about 2% below its previous week. Rounding out the top-10 is the Maverick/Warner Bros. soundtrack to “The Matrix Reloaded,” which is down 6-10 on a 34% dip to sales of 62,000 copies.
Elsewhere on The Billboard 200, Ginuwine’s “The Senior” (Epic) rockets 52-25 on a 44% sales gain to 33,000 copies, and Good Charlotte’s “The Young and the Hopeless” (Epic) glides 48-31 on a 21% burst sales of 29,000 copies.
This week’s only other new arrivals inside the top half of the chart are Frankie J’s “What’s a Man To Do?” (Columbia), which enters at No. 53 with sales of 20,200 copies, and O.A.R.’s “In Between Now and Then” (Atlantic) which bows at No. 54 on sales of 20,000 copies.
Categories