Blog Posts by Paul Grein

Disturbed becomes only the fourth hard rock band to land three consecutive #1 albums on Billboard's album chart. The Chicago-based group follows Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Staind. Disturbed achieves the feat by opening at #1 with Indestructible. The band also debuted in the top spot with Believe in September 2002 and Ten Thousand Fists in September 2005.

Led Zeppelin landed three straight #1 albums from 1973 through 1976 with Houses Of The Holy, Physical Graffiti and Presence. Van Halen scored from 1986 through 1991 with 5150, OU812 and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Staind made the grade from 2001 through 2005 with Break The Cycle, 14 Shades Of Grey and Chapter V.

Metallica has had four #1 albums, but never more than two in a row. Linkin Park and System Of A Down have each had three #1 albums, but again never more than two in a row. (Also, many would call Linkin Park and System of A Down alternative-metal rather than hard rock.)

Disturbed shouldn't get too comfortable in the #1 spot.

Usher's Here I Stand opens at #1, with sales of 443,000. It's the biggest opening by a male artist so far this year, topping Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static, which bowed in February with sales of 375,000. The last male artists to post bigger first-week numbers were Kanye West and 50 Cent, who scored in their heavily-publicized face-off in September. West's Graduation opened with sales of 957,000. 50 Cent's Curtis bowed with 691,000.

Here I Stand ranks behind only Mariah Carey's E=MC2 (463,000) for the biggest sales week so far in 2008. The difference is that Carey's tally improved on her previous best opening total (of 404,000), posted by The Emancipation Of Mimi in April 2005. Usher's total is less than half of that posted by his previous best opening, Confessions, which bowed in March 2004 with first-week sales of 1,096,000.

The market has declined markedly since 2004, so Usher's diminished opening is to be expected. The really striking part--which becomes more impressive as

David Cook and David Archuleta take their friendly competition from the set of American Idol to the national pop charts. Cook places a staggering 17 songs on the top 200 Hot Digital Songs chart. His bevy of hits includes the new #1, "Time Of My Life," which opens with a healthy total of 236,000 downloads. Cook's 17 entries have a combined total of 944,000 paid downloads. I don't think he'll need to go back to bartending anytime soon.

Archuleta places 12 songs on the Hot Digital Songs chart, topped by his cover of John Lennon's "Imagine," which opens at #16 with 71,000 downloads. Archie's songs have a combined total of 301,000 paid downloads. Thus, Cook was downloaded more than three times as often as his rival. That's an even more lopsided result than last week's voting, which Cook won by a margin of 56% to 44%. (If Archie had won the title, would he be dominating the download battle? Probably. America loves a winner.)

Cook's new entries also include "Dream Big" (#7, 111,000

It was billed as the Great Diva Smackdown of '08. In the space of just nine weeks, three of the biggest female stars of the rock era--Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Madonna--released new studio albums. It was like three summer blockbusters hitting your local multiplex in a nine-week span, with the added (and admittedly sexist and sophomoric) appeal of an all-star catfight. Meow!

So who made the most divalicious showing? All three albums--Jackson's Discipline, Carey's E=MC2 and Madonna's Hard Candy--debuted at #1, though only Carey's improved on the opening-week sales performance of her previous studio album. (Indeed, Carey had the biggest opening of her career.) Also, only Carey's album managed to hold on to the #1 spot for a second week. Indeed, at least at this early stage, Carey's album has sold more copies than Madonna's and Jackson's albums combined.

In terms of raw numbers, E=MC2 has sold 887,000 copies in its first five weeks, making it the #3 best-seller so far in 2008. Hard

Neil Diamond this week becomes the oldest living artist to land a #1 album in the 52-year history of Billboard's weekly album chart. Diamond, 67, achieves the feat with Home Before Dark. The old record was held by Bob Dylan, who was 65 when he last topped the chart in September 2006 with Modern Times.

Only two other solo artists have had #1 albums past the age of 60--Louis Armstrong, who was 62 in 1964 when he topped the chart with Hello, Dolly! and Rod Stewart, who was 61 in 2006 when he rang the bell with Still The Same...Great Rock Classics Of Our Time.

Key group members who had #1 albums past the age of 60 are Ronald Isley, who was 62 in 2003 when the Isley Brothers' Body Kiss topped the chart; Ringo Starr, who was 60 in 2000 when the Beatles' 1 hit #1; and Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt, all of whom were 60 last fall when Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden hit #1.

I know what you're thinking: How about those old-timers who had #1 albums in the early years of the rock

Madonna lands her seventh #1 album as Hard Candy debuts in the lead position. In the 52 year history of Billboard's weekly album chart, only one female artist-Barbra Streisand--has had more #1 albums. Madonna is also second only to Streisand for the longest span of #1 albums. Streisand's span a little more than 33 years, from People in October 1964 to Higher Ground in November 1997. Madonna's span a little more than 23 years, from Like A Virgin in February 1985 to Hard Candy.

The two women would seem to have little in common. Streisand is renowned as one of the most gifted vocalists of all time. Madonna's innate vocal talents are fairly modest. As she has pointed out, she didn't go into music because she thought she had a spectacular voice but because she had something to say.

The two women were received differently from the outset. Streisand's debut album won a Grammy for Album of the Year. By the time she was 27, Streisand had also won an Emmy and an Oscar, representing a rare degree

Flight Of The Conchords' first full-length album debuts at #3 on Nielsen/SoundScan's list of the nation's best-sellers. It's the highest ranking for a comedy album since Steve Martin's A Wild And Crazy Guy logged six weeks at #2 in late 1978 and early 1979. It's also the highest-debuting comedy album ever, topping Dane Cook's Retaliation, which debuted (and peaked) at #4 in August 2005.

Flight Of The Conchords consists of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, who portray a folk duo transplanted from New Zealand to New York. The album is based on a popular HBO series, now in its second season. The album's music/comedy blend recalls an earlier TV spin-off-Bob & Doug McKenzie's Great White North. On that album, which went top 10 in 1982, SCTV cast members Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas portrayed the hapless Canadians.

Flight... received a Grammy in February for its six-track EP, The Distant Future, which was voted Best Comedy Album. The duo beat a field of standout stand-ups, which consisted

Mariah Carey's E=MC2 opens at #1 with sales of 463,000--the fattest opening-week total of her career. Carey's previous top opening (404,000) was made by her most recent album, The Emancipation Of Mimi. E=MC2 also tops Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static for the best opening so far in 2008. Johnson debuted with sales of 375,000 in February. The last album to open with a higher sales number was Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains, which opened with sales of 629,000 in December.

Carey's album sold as many copies as the next 12 albums on this week's chart, combined. And yet, Carey's opening tally is less than half of the first week total of the biggest opener of 2007, Kanye West's Graduation, which bowed with sales of 957,000 in September. In fact, 10 albums in 2007 debuted with higher sales totals. The others were, in descending order, Alicia Keys, the Eagles, 50 Cent, Blige, Linkin Park, High School Musical 2, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and T.I.  For Carey to fall short of