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 System
of a Down has made chart history, becoming the first band to debut two different
studio albums at number one in the Billboard chart in the same calendar year.
Holding back former chart-topper Kenny Chesney, the L.A.-based outfit's
Hypnotize was the biggest selling album of last week, moving 320,000
first-week copies, according to SoundScan.
Only two other acts have accomplished such a two-fer since the inception of the
Billboard chart in 1983. The Beatles landed the compilation albums Anthology 2
and Anthology 3 on top in 1996 and rapper DMX accomplished the feat in 1998 with
his first two solo albums, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh,
Blood of My Blood, but SOAD is the first band to achieve the mark with studio
albums.
Hypnotize is the second installment in System's song cycle that
began with May's Mesmerize. That disc opened at number one with a more robust
453,000 copies. With a boost from the Hypnotize release hype last week,
Mezmerize sold 20,000 more, climbing 21 spots to 97; it has now moved 1.5
million copies.
With
first-week sales of Hypnotize coming it at over 320,000, System of a Down
have pulled off two Billboard albums chart #1 debuts in 2005.
You may not think System have much in common with the Beatles, but according to
the band's label, the hard-rocking foursome — who landed on top with Mezmerize
in May — is the first group to score a pair of chart-topping debuts within the
same calendar year since John, Paul, George and Ringo. The Beatles did it five
times — though they had anthologies and collections, not two studio LPs, in the
mix — while solo artist DMX opened on top twice in 1998.
According to the latest SoundScan figures, Hypnotize gives the Serj
Tankian-fronted collective the third #1 debut of its decade-long career. The
eclectic metallers bumped pop icon Madonna from Billboard's top spot. Her
Confessions on a Dance Floor drops to #4 with second-week scans of 210,000 plus.
Country star Kenny Chesney's The Road and the Radio climbs one chart position to
#2 with 303,000 copies sold, following a 58 percent sales boost. The 20th
installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! series jumps two spots to #3
this week, with sales of 288,000 reflecting a 70 percent surge in retail
interest...
SOAD Tops Album Chart For Second Time This Year
For the third time in its career and the second this year, System Of A Down
scores the top position on The Billboard 200. "Hypnotize" (American/Columbia)
debuts at No. 1 on the album chart with sales of more than 324,000 copies in the
United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Although it was enough to debut in the lead, the first-week total for
"Hypnotize" came up shy of the 453,000 copies the rock act's "Mezmerize" moved
in its first week back in May. SOAD previously reached No. 1 with "Toxicity" in
2001.
Overall sales for the week, which included the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and
"Black Friday," the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season, were up
30% over the previous week at 17 million units, but still 10% behind the same
week a year ago. Sales for 2005 lag behind 2004 by about 13% at 509 million
units...
Sources:
Mtv.com,
billboard.com and
others
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