The music you bought this week: J. Cole, Nirvana and more
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J. Cole has been hyped for so long he’s lost, for all intents and purposes, his newcomer status. Nevertheless, the Jay-Z pal lands atop the U.S. pop chart this week with his debut album with his ‘Cole World: The Sideline Story’ selling 217,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Cole’s album easily holds back the return of San Diego-bred pop-punk act Blink-182, whose ‘Neighborhoods’ bowed at No. 2 after selling 151,000 copies. This is the band’s first album in eight years; back in 2003 a self-titled album from the band did about double the sales total of ‘Neighborhoods.’
Last week’s chart topper, Tony Bennett’s ‘Duets II,’ falls to No. 4, suffering a 49% drop in sales to 91,000 copies. In two weeks, Bennett has sold 270,000 copies of the album. Bennett, who last week became the oldest living artist to lead the Billboard tally, is slotted this week behind Adele, who continues to struggle with her vocal cords while touring in support of ’21.’ Regardless, the latter has sold 3.7 million copies to date, and added another 118,000 this week.
Also new to the top 5 is Wilco’s ‘The Whole Love,’ the band’s first working with Anti- and its own dBpm Records. ‘The Whole Love’ entered at No. 5, having sold 82,000 copies. Back in 2009 when Wilco was still part of the major label system, its Nonesuch album ‘Wilco (The Album)’ debuted at No. 4 and sold just under 100,000 copies in its first week.
Other notes from this week’s chart:
--Some rock and hard rock veterans round out the top 10 this week. The latest from Switchfoot, ‘Vice Verses,’ lands at No. 8 with 44,000 copies sold while, which Chickenfoot, a kinda-sorta rock supergroup if the term is used loosely (the act features Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith), pecks its way in at No. 9 with ‘Chickenfoot III’ (42,000). Just making the top 10 is the return of metal act Mastodon with ‘Hunter,’ which sold more than 38,000 copies this week.
--A reissue of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ enters the chart at No. 12 this week with another 26,000 copies sold. On the massive re-issuing of the band’s catalog that is underway, ‘Dark Side’ fared best, while ‘The Wall’ was a distant second, at No. 40 with just under 10,000 copies sold.
--Some may shudder at Nirvana getting the classic rock treatment, but a reissue of ‘Nevermind’ sees the album jolt from No. 146 to No. 13. With another 25,000 copies sold this week, ‘Nevermind’ has sold more than 8.8 million copies since its 1991 release, the year Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data. A multi-disc, ‘super deluxe’ edition that’s selling for more than $100 also managed to breach the charts, landing at No. 131 after selling 41,000 copies.
--Locals the Dum Dum Girls enter the top 200 with sophomore effort ‘Only in Dreams.’ The album is at No. 105 after selling just shy of 5,000 copies.
ALSO:
Wilco’s riveting ‘Art of Almost,’ an oral history
The emotional toughness of the Dum Dum Girls’ ‘Only in Dreams’
Kenny Loggins: Blake Shelton’s ‘Footloose’ sounds overly produced
-- Todd Martens
