Modest Mouse scores the first No. 1 album on The Billboard 200 of its career this week as “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” debuts on top. The Epic set moved 129,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, more than double the group’s previous best sales week. Modest Mouse’s last album, 2004’s “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” debuted at No. 19 with 68,000.
Joss Stone’s third album, “Introducing Joss Stone” (Virgin), enters at No. 2, moving 118,000 units, also a career best for charting and sales. Stone’s last album, 2004’s “Mind, Body & Soul” peaked at No. 11.
“American Idol” 2006 third-place finisher Elliott Yamin’s self-titled Hickory Records debut sold 90,000 copies to debut at No. 3. Yamin becomes the fifth finalist from last year’s edition of the show to reach The Billboard 200, joining Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Kellie Pickler and this week’s No. 4 artist, Chris Daughtry. Daughtry’s self-titled RCA album holds tight in that position for a second week, selling 76,000 copies with a modest 4% drop in sales.
R&B singer Marques Houston’s Universal Motown set “Veteran” debuts at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with 69,000 units. Houston’s last album, 2005’s “Naked,” debuted at No. 13 on The Billboard 200 with 65,000.
Akon’s “Konvicted” (SRC/Universal) falls 5-6 after selling about a hundred copies less than “Veteran” at 69,000 (-4%), while Lloyd’s “Street Love” (The Inc.) descends 2-7 with 55,000 (-62%). After bowing at the summit last week, Musiq Soulchild’s “Luvanmusiq” (Atlantic) plunges to No. 8 with a 64% sales hit at 54,000.
Rich Boy’s self-titled Zone 4/Interscope debut slips 3-9 with 49,000, a sales change of -56%. In its second week on the chart, Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” (Universal) falls 7-10 with 48,000 and a 6% sales dip.
Several more albums bowed this week in the top 50 on The Billboard 200, including Insane Clown Posse’s Psychopathic set “The Tempest” at No. 20 (33,000), the group’s eleventh album to enter the chart. Baby Boy Da Prince makes his Billboard 200 debut with sophomore set “Across the Water” (Universal Republic) at No. 26 with 26,000. Rapper Devin the Dude’s “Waitin’ to Inhale” (Rap-A-Lot) enters at No. 30 (25,000), which beats the No. 55 peak of his 2004 effort “To Tha X-Treme.”
With only a couple dozen sales fewer than “Waitin’ to Inhale,” Crime Mob’s “Hated on Mostly” (Reprise) slips in at No. 31. Stephen Marley’s first solo album, “Mind Control” (Universal), bows at No. 35 with 20,000, while LCD Soundsystem’s sophomore Capitol/DFA effort, “Sound of Silver,” earns the James Murphy-led group its first Billboard 200 chart ink at No. 46.
“Last of the Breed,” a collaboration between Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price via Lost Highway, is next to debut, moving 13,000 at No. 64. A trio of debuts, Andrew Bird’s “Armchair Apocrypha” (Fat Possum), Juan Luis Guerra y 440’s “La Llave de Mi Corazon” (EMI) and El-P’s “I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead” (Def Jux), landed at No. 76, No. 77 and No. 78 respectively, all selling around 11,000.
Metal act Haste The Day has its best charting week with the debut of “Pressure the Hinges” at No. 89 (10,000). Ted Leo and the Pharmicists land on the Billboard 200 for the first time with “Living with the Living,” the group’s first record through Touch & Go, at No. 109 with 8,000. Two other new albums debut with around 8,000 copies: J Dilla’s posthumous “Ruff Draft” bows at No. 112 while “Influence” by Shaw-Blades (comprising Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Tommy Shaw of Styx) enters at No. 117.
Maylene & the Sons of Disaster earn their first appearance on any Billboard chart with their aptly named sophomore set “II” at No. 156 with 6,000. Miguel Bose’s “Papito” joins the chart for the first time at No. 160 with 5,000, while the second album from Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn, “Out of the Woods,” bows with 5,000 as well at No. 172.
Album sales are up 2.6% from last week’s total at 8.5 million units and down 18.2% compared to the same week last year. Overall album sales for the year are down 17% from last year at 108 million units.
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