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The Big News: Lady Antebellum’s reign atop the charts came to an end as Ludacris and Gorillaz battled it out and the Atlanta rapper’s Battle of the Sexes took Number One on the Billboard 200 with 137,000 copies sold. Gorillaz landed at Number Two as Plastic Beach moved 112,000 copies. Battle is now Ludacris’ first chart-topping album since 2006’s Release Therapy and the fourth Number One album of his career. Plastic Beach also gave frontman Damon Albarn the best U.S. debut of his career — including his tenure with Blur — and improved on Demon Days‘ Number Six debut in 2005. Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now dropped to Number Three.
Nearly four decades after his death, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stone’s current cover star, entered the charts at Number Four with his collection of unearthed tracks Valleys of Neptune, which sold 95,000 copies. Rounding out the Top Five was another debut, Gary Allan’s Get Off on the Pain. In platinum news, Lady Gaga’s The Fame surpassed the three million mark and Justin Bieber’s My World scored the 16-year-old singer his first million seller.
Debuts: It was a big week for new albums as James Mercer and Danger Mouse’s Broken Bells entered the charts at Number Seven with their self-titled debut, which sold 49,000 in its first week. Further down, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Beat the Devil’s Tattoo came in at 56, Frightened Rabbit’s Winter of Mixed Drinks took 78 with 6,900 copies and the Pavement greatest hits collection Quarantine the Past bowed at 149.
Last Week’s Heroes: The influx of debuts in the Top 10 pushed Sade’s Soldier of Love out of the Top Five for the first time since its release five weeks ago, with the album landing at Six. The biggest drop from last week goes to Lifehouse’s Smoke &...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily