Pearl Jam Flashes Back

Eddie Vedder and pals lodge their first No. 1 in 13 years with their latest release, Backspacer

Yup, they're still alive.

And how.

Ending a 13-year drought, Pearl Jam's ninth studio release, Backspacer, debuted atop the Billboard album charts this week, the grunge survivor's first No. 1 since No Code way back in 1996.

Issued via the band's new Monkeywrench Records label, Backspacer is the band's follow-up to 2006's self-titled release and sold 189,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan.

The album was exclusively available at Target stores (prompting sell-out accusations from long-time fans of the traditionally anti-corporate band), along with the smattering of indie record shops still around, iTunes and the band's own site.

Pearl Jam knocked Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 out of the top slot.

Debuting at No. 3 with 79,000 discs was Three Days' Grace's Life Starts Now. The other Top 10 debuts were Brand New's Daisy (No. 6), headbangers Five Finger Death Punch's War Is the Answer (No. 7) and Harry Connick Jr.'s Your Songs (No. 8).

Other notable newcomer included David Gray's Draw the Line, which landed at No. 12, and the indie rock supergroup Monsters of Folk, whose self-titled debut opened at No. 15 in its first week in stores.