Jack White visits the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 for the first time, as his debut solo set, Blunderbuss, arrives with 138,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s the rocker’s first No. 1 in any form — he missed the top with his other bands the White Stripes, the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather. (However, they collectively notched seven top 10 sets.)
The highest chart peak of any of those band’s releases was the White Stripes’ 2007 album Icky Thump, which bowed and peaked at No. 2 with a first week of 223,000. (It was stuck behind Bon Jovi’s No. 1-debuting Lost Highway, with 292,000.)
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The rest of the top four this week are all holdovers, as Adele’s 21 moves 3-2 (84,000; down 6%), Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee slips 1-3 (78,000; down 31%), and One Direction’s Up All Night rises 5-4 (50,000; down 9%). The latter crosses the half-million sales mark this week, as its to-date total climbs to 541,000. It is the fifth-best-selling album this year in the United States. (Adele’s 21, by far, leads the pack, with 3.1 million moved just in 2012. It’s overall total is 8.9 million.)
The Billboard 200’s second-highest debut belongs to Lee Brice’s ” Hard 2 Love, which enters at No. 5 with 46,000. It’s the country singer’s second album and first top 10, following 2010’s Love Like Crazy, which debuted and peaked at No. 44.
Right behind Brice is the debut of fellow country act Kip Moore, with his first album, Up All Night, at No. 6 (37,000). Yes, there are two identically titled albums in the top 10 this week thanks to Moore and One Direction. Moore’s current single, “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck,” holds at No. 9 on the Hot Country Songs chart this week.
The fourth and final arrival in the top 10 is the Wanted’s self-titled U.S. debut, which bows at No. 7 with 34,000. The set (released only in North America) is a compilation of singles from the U.K. vocal group’s two previous studio albums, along with two newly recorded songs. (The act’s two earlier studio sets, a self-titled 2010 effort and 2011’s Battleground, were only released outside of North America.) The Wanted’s first worldwide studio album is due this fall.
As for the rest of the top 10: Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded descends 6-8 (32,000; down 33%), Gotye’s Making Mirrors falls 7-9 (32,000; down 28%), and Jason Mraz’s Love Is a Four Letter Word tumbles 2-10 (29,000; down 71%).
Over on the Digital Songs chart, Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” (featuring Kimbra) retakes the No. 1 slot, rising one position with 414,000 downloads (down 11%). Last week’s No. 1, Maroon 5’s “Payphone” featuring Wiz Khalifa, falls to No. 2 with 330,000 (down 33%).
Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” hits a new high, rising 5-3 with 221,000 (up less than 1%) while fun.’s “We Are Young” (featuring Janelle Monae) falls 3-4 with 207,000 (down 18%).
Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” moves 4-5 (192,000; down 18%) while Khalifa’s new “Work Hard, Play Hard” debuts at No. 6 (172,000). One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” is down 6-7 (170,000; down 13%), Flo Rida’s “Wild Ones” (featuring Sia) goes 7-8 (152,000; down 10%), and Minaj’s “Starships” drops 8-9 (151,000; down 1%). The Wanted’s “Glad You Came” closes out the top 10 by falling one slot to No. 10 (143,000, down 3%).
Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending April 30) totaled 5.41 million units, down 6% compared with the sum last week (5.7 million) and up less than 1% compared with the comparable sales week of 2011 (5.38 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 101 million, down 1% compared with the same total at this point last year (101.9 million).
Digital track sales this past week totaled 25.5 million downloads, down 1% compared with last week (25.9 million) and up 1% stacked next to the comparable week of 2011 (25.3 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 470 million, up 7% compared with the same total at this point last year (438.4 million).
Next week’s Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2011 when: Adele’s 21 continued to reign atop the tally for a seventh nonconsecutive week with 155,000 (up 26%) sold. Meanwhile, Nos. 2-8 and 10 were all debuts. The highest new entry was Beastie Boys‘ Hot Sauce Committee Part Two at No. 2 with 128,000.