Billboard Blitz!! Jan-27-10

Were they the king?

A big shake up this week at the Top 10 with only four of last week's albums held on, while five new debuts made up the entire Top 5. As album sales continue to go down the tubes, more and more new faces will appear in the Top 10.

20. The Black Keys Brothers

19. Kid Rock Born Free
18. R. Kelly Love Letter
17. Eminem Recovery
16. Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
15. Pink Greatest Hits...So Far!!
14. Various Artists Country Strong Soundtrack
13. Jason Aldean My Kinda Party
12. Rihanna Loud
11. James Blunt Some Kind of Trouble

10. Mumford and Sons Sigh No More
Week 44 for Mumford and his Sons, an they're barely in our Top Ten. Radioplay and good word of mouth has sustained these folksters, it'll be interesting to see if they can climb up any higher in the coming weeks; a Grammy win could certainly aid that. So far they've peaked at the #8 spot.

Ahh modern folk music sounds so good. Really looks like it's fun to be in this band, lots of bromance.

9. Nikki Minaj Pink Friday
A bit of a tumble from last week, Nikki Minaj still looks strong in her fifth week and a new video with Drake could help sustain her Top Ten residency for another week. We won't be looking at that new video though, instead let's take a peak at James Blunt's new album at #11. As you probably recall, he's that British dude who sang "You're Beautiful" a few years back. This album has been out in Europe for a while now, but just came out in the US.

Oh god, this is not good. Sorry readers. James Blunt should really stick to singing less poppy stuff, voice works way better in slow melicolre stuff. Lol, you don't have gold here Jame, I'm definitely not staying the night no matter how much you want me.

8. Taylor Swift Speak
Country's young blond queen is still surviving a new year in the Top 10, though she's fallen to the lower half the past few weeks. It's her 13 week on the charts, and we'll have to wait and see how much legs this album has to. Instead of another Taylor Swift single, let's journey down the charts and visit our old friends in Pearl Jam at #21. Celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band, they've got a new album out Live On Ten Legs. Shall we have a listen?

Twenty years in and these Seattle boys are skill kicking ass and taking names. Here they cover Neil Young's "Fuckin' Up" to rocking perfection.

7. Katy Perry Teenage Dream
A hot single, a big world tour announcement, something tells me Katy Perry's return to the Top 10 this week will last into next weeks. It's her 22nd week on the charts, and she's still going strong. Not as strong, Brandon Heath, dude I've never heard of before, has a new album, Leaving Eden, debuting at #36. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume by the album title that this is a Christian album. Oh God, let's take a listen:

Eh....I pretend he's singing about some hot chick and not his invisible friend in the sky; though that gets kinda stretched at the end, my wife's love rarely cures the blind. Songs a bit catchy, line "Your love" easily could get stuck in your head, but just remember friends songs praising God usually suck, while songs praising Satan are often awesome.

6. Bruno Mars Doo-Wops and Hooligans
Week 16 for Mr. Mars and he's knocked Brittney Spears of the Hot 100 Singles Chart and managed the top position in our Top 10 Albums outside of debuts. Uninterested in listening to Bruno, Ryan Adams and The Cardinals's album III/IV has re-entered the charts at #59. Though the album came out last December, it had it's best selling week last week. Weird.

Song has a really cool vibe to it, yep I like this. Fucking rocks.

5. Gregg Allman Low Country Blues
His first solo album in 14 years, this is also Greg Allman's first crack at the Top Ten. The 63 year old lead singer of Allman Brothers shows even old dogs singing the blues can turn out some album sales.

The only song on this album that's not a cover, Gregg wrote this with Warren Haynes and it feels like a continuation of his classic "Midnight Rider". If the rest of the album sounds this good, it's a must buy.

4. Social Distortion Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
These old punk rockers have certainly been around their fair share of years and they too have notched up a Top Ten appearance for the first time. They certainly deserve the high marks, having turned out solid music since the late 70s.

Punk guitars, hard lyrics, and pounding drums, feel like I need to be in the pit for this one.

3. The Script Science and Faith
Another debut and another first appearance in the Top Ten. Though loved in Britain and Ireland, debuting #1 in both countries weeks ago, The Script haven't found a huge calling in the US yet, their 2008 album charting at #64. Looks like they're making some headway.

Songs not doing much for me, don't hate it or anything, just alright I guess. Maybe too Scripted, lol.

2. Kidz Bop Kidz Kidz Bop 19
First week on the charts, and god I hope the last. Why do people buy this shit, wouldn't you rather hear the real version of these songs and not some little bratz sing them. I'm definitely not going to play any of there crap here, so instead we'll listen to a track from Times of Grace's debut album The Hymn of A Broken Man, which debuted this week at #44.

Certainly doesn't feel like times of grace is this apocalyptic future. Oh well, at least the music kicks ass and isn't sung by any snot nosed kids.

1. The Decemberists The King Is Dead
Congrads to a great band who have put out another solid album. This is the group's first #1 and first Top 10 debut, and luckily they broke the two week Billboard streak of setting a new lowest #1 selling album. Cheers to that.

This is really a great album and this is currently my favorite track off of it. Fucking love the line "if you ever make it to ten you won't make it again."

What ever happened to..................last week's Top 10?
10. Kanye West- My Dark Twisted Fantasy 16
9. Mumford and Sons- Sigh No More 10
8. Rihanna- Loud 12
7. Steel Magnolia- Steel Magnolia 33
6. Various Artist- Country Strong Soundtrack 14
5. Nikki Minaj- Pink Friday 9
4. Bruno Mars- Doo-Wops and Hooligans 6
3. Taylor Swift- Speak Now 8
2. Cage The Elephant- Happy Birthday 28
1. Cake- Showroom of Compassion 25

Man it feels good to make the Top 10, but many of those bands who made it for the first time last week took a mighty fall. Interesting to see how our five debuts manage in their second week.

Next Week: Ricky Martin