Pearl Jam were the top-selling artists in the country last week, selling nearly 189,000 copies of their latest offering, Backspacer (their first number 1 album in 13 years.) But this week, the grunge-era greats have to concede the field to a new sales phenom: that of the unabashed power of Barbra Streisand.
Hungry Streisand fans snatched up 180,000 copies of her new studio disc, Love Is The Answer, which reportedly tastes “like buttah.” It’s her ninth no. 1 album overall, and her first since 1997’s Higher Ground.
Franklin, Tennessee’s alt-rock outfit Paramore were expected to clinch the top spot, but intsead had to settle for second best. Their latest, Brand New Eyes, bowed at #2, selling 175,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
North Carolina country-folk-rockers The Avett Brothers probably never expected to find themselves at #16 on the Billboard charts, but that’s exactly where they landed with their major label debut, I and Love and You. Thanks to help from producer Rick Rubin, and hey, maybe their American Songwriter cover story from awhile back, the boys are steadily making a name for themselves nationwide.
Elsewhere, Lyrnyrd Skynyrd stormed the charts with the red state-friendly Gods and Guns, which debuted at #18. Poetic wizard Ghostface Killah nabbed the #28 position with Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry. But country upstart Miranda Lambert had them all beat: her third album, Revolution, debuted at #8 and sold 66,000 copies, bolstered by the hit single “Dead Flowers.”
The top 10 albums in the country this week:
1. Love is the Answer – Barbra Streisand
2. Brand New Eyes – Paramore
3. Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel – Mariah Carey
4. Dear Agony – Breaking Benjamins
5. Black Gives Way to Blue – Alice in Chains
6. The Blueprint 3 – Jay-Z
7. Celebration – Madonna
8. Revolution – Miranda Lambert
9. Kiss and Tell – Selena Gomez and the Scene
10. Backspacer – Pearl Jam