Hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold earned the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart this week, with Luke Bryan’s new album finally dropping to second place. New albums from hip hop artists Big Sean and Jessie J also debuted in the Top 5.
Avenged Sevenfold’s new release is Hail to the King, which started with 159,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan data, notes Billboard. It was the group’s second No. 1 (following 2010’s Nightmare) and the biggest start for a hard rock group since Linkin Park’s last album came out in July 2012.
Bryan’s Crash My Party had topped the chart for two weeks, but dropped to 92,000 copies sold this past week. He still topped the Country Albums chart, though.
Big Sean entered the chart this week with Hall of Fame, which started with 72,000 copies, which was good enough for No. 3. Jessie J came in fourth with 64,000.
Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines and Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience both got just bumps from the MTV Video Music Awards. Blurred Lines came in at No. 5 with 55,000 copies, while 20/20 added 37,000 copies, good for the No. 6 spot.
John Mayer’s Paradise Valley fell all the way to No. 7 with just 36,000 copies sold in its second week. Bryan kept him from the top slot last week.
Alabama & Friends, an all-star country album dedicated to the music of group Alabama sold 32,000 and started at No. 8. The No. 9 and No. 10 slots were held by Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox (27,000) and TGT’s Three Kings (27,000), respectively.
Katy Perry’s “Roar” continues to dominate the Digital Songs Chart with another 448,000 downloads. She closed the VMAs with a performance of the song.
image: Amazon