Multi-instrumentalists Arcade Fire’s third album “The Suburbs” has taken the top spot this week with 156,000 sales, Billboard reports, surpassing their 92,000 record for “Neon Bible” in 2007. That album peaked at number two. Album sales are no doubt benefiting from a $3.99 weeklong sale on Amazon’s MP3 store. First week sales for “The Suburbs” reaped 62% of of their audience through downloads, while “Neon Bible” only drew 30% from downloads its first week.
According to Spin, the band headlines two shows at the Madison Square Garden in New York and will be headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago
The indy Montreal band are just barely denying Eminem’s “Recovery” the number one spot, as it had been held back by Avenged Sevenfold’s “Nightmare”, which is now at number three. Eminem has little to worry about though, as his seventh album is moving towards double-platinum status, Spin reports. Bun B’s “Trill O.G. and Rick Ross’s “Teflon Don” take the number four and number five album spots, giving rap three of the five top album slots. Ross slipped from the three spot to number five.
According to Rolling Stone, album sales are down 13 percent for this same time last year.
Taylor Swift’s claims a win with 297,000 downloads of “Mine” off of “Speak Now”, an uptempo country-pop song. The Pennsylvania native was forced to rush-release the song due to a leak of the song and still managed to knock the Eminem-Rihanna song “Love the Way You Lie” down to number 2.
For August 12th, Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart places “Love the Way You Lie” By Eminem and Featuring Rihanna at number 1, with “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz at number 2. iTunes Top 10 Songs swaps their places for the US; Cruz also leads among the Australia, Canada, and New Zealand top ten. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry share the next two slots, with Swift’s “Mine” at number3 on Billboard and number 4 on iTunes. Perry’s “California Girls” featuring Snoop Dogg is number 4 on Billboard and her “Teenage Dream” is number 3 on iTunes. Enrique Iglesias takes the five spot for both Billboard and iTunes.
Two songs tearing up iTune’s Top Ten Songs internationally include “We No Speak Americano” by Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup and “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) [The official 2010 FIFA World Cup Song]{featuring Freshlyground} by Shakira. Both songs lead a number of European country charts.
Sources
Daniel Kreps, “Arcade Fire Debute at Number One, Taylor Swift Rules iTunes” Rolling Stone
Peter Gaston, “Arcade Fire Have America’s No. 1 Album!” Spin
Keith Caufield, Alex Vitoulis, Silvio Pietroluongo, “Arcade Fire And Taylor Swift Sweep In With New No. 1s” Billobard.biz
Billboard, “Hot 100”
Apple.com “iTunes Store Top 10 Songs”
