Pearl Jam unseat Jay-Z on US charts

10:09 | Friday October 2, 2009

The grunge survivors had their three previous number ones in the 1990s but their fourth, Backspacer, debuts in pole position this week, on sales of 189,000 copies.

Albums by Three Day Grace, Brand New, Five Finger Death Punch and Harry Connick Jr. also amass enough sales to debut inside the Top 10.

Canadian rockers Three Day Grace debut at number three with their third album, Life Starts Now, on sales of 79,000 copies, instantly eclipsing the number five peak of their 2006 effort One-X, and their self-titled 2003 debut, which reached number 69.

New York rockers Brand New fell short of the chart with their 2001 debut, Your Favorite Weapon, and subsequent albums have reached number 63 and number 31, but their new album Daisy is fresh to the Top 10, debuting at number six on sales of 46,000 copies.

Californian hard rock band Five Finger Death Punch debut at number seven with second album, War Is The Answer, on sales of 44,000 copies, beating by exactly 100 places the peak position of their 2007 debut The Way Of The Fist.

Harry Connick Jr.’s smooth jazz style has brought him 17 US album chart entries since 1988 but he’s in the Top 10 for only the second time in his career with Your Songs, which debuts at number eight (36,500 sales) and comprises entirely of covers, including The Beatles’ And I Love Her, Billy Joel’s Just The Way You Are and Charlie Chaplin’s Smile.

Flushed from the summit after two weeks, Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 slips to number two on sales of 134,000 copies, while the top album by a UK act remains The Resistance by Muse, which slides 3-10 on sales of 36,000 copies. With three new arrivals and one departure -The Beatles’ Mono Box checks out from a position of 199 - there are nine albums in the chart by UK acts, the year’s best tally.

The new arrivals are Draw The Line by David Gray, The Boy Who Knew Too Much by Mika and La Roux by La Roux.

Gray’s Draw The Line debuts at number 12 (35,000 sales) to become the highest charting of his four Top 200 entries to date. Mika also hits a new high, debuting at number 19 on sales of 27,500 copies of The Boy Who Knew Too Much, beating the number 29 peak of his 2007 debut, Life In Cartoon Motion.

La Roux’s eponymous debut album has already been a success in many other countries, and lands at number 170, on sales of just under 3,000 copies.

Slipping down the chart are Mark Knopfler’s Get Lucky (17-46, 11,000 sales), Porcupine Tree’s The Incident (25-97, 5,000 sales), Imogen Heap’s Ellipse (86-108, 4,500 sales) and The Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug (97-115, 4,500 sales). And Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends is static at number 127 (3,500 sales).

On the Hot 100 Black Eyed Peas extend their historic reign to 182 days, 26 weeks or half a year. Whatever way you look at it, it’s a long time.

Boom Boom Pow! reigned for 12 weeks, and I Gotta Feeling has topped the list 14 times in a row. It is getting tight at the top however, and UK hope Jay Sean’s Down collaboration with Lil Wayne rebounds 3-2, a short head behind.

Meanwhile increasing airplay cannot make up for decreasing sales, for another trio of UK acts on the Hot 100, which means there are falls for Muse’s Uprising (37-66), Mr Hudson’s Jay Z collaboration Young Forever (41-72) and Leona Lewis’ Happy (50-83).