ABC/CRAIG SJODINThe Fray just demoted the Boss.
One week after Bruce Springsteen scored the first No. 1 debut of the year, the Denver rockers dispaced him with their eponymous sophomore release. The Fray sold 179,000 for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan, to 102,000 for Springsteen's Working on a Dream at No. 2.
The Fray's breakthrough debut, How To Save a Life, never cracked the Top 10, but the success of singles like "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and the title track pushed sales of the 2005 release north of 2 million. The Fray leads at radio with "You Found Me," which hit No. 7 position on last week's Hot 100.
The Fray and Springsteen were the only artists to break six-figure sales this week.
Dierks Bentley's Feel That Fire sold just 71,000 copies at No. 3, but that was enough to topple Taylor Swift's three-month rule atop the Country Albums chart. Bentley has now topped the Country chart, and opened in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, with his last three studio albums.
The latest Kidz Bop annoyance scored the final Top 10 bow at No. 7, selling 38,000.
Just outside the Top 10, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus sold 26,000 copies of its third album, Lonely Road, at No. 14, while indie rockers A Day To Remember opened at No. 21 with 22,000 of Homesick.
Rhymesayers rapper P.O.S. landed his first chart debut as Never Better moved 6,000 copies at No. 106, which was enough to battle his way to the top of the Heatseekers chart.
Sunday's big Grammy winners, Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, should rocket toward the top of the charts next week with their Album of the Year-winning Raising Sand. The disc already got an early sales spike thanks to downloads. With a near 850-percent jump in digital album sales, Raising Sand reentered the charts at No. 68 moving another 9,000 copies.
Overall sales jumped up 13 percent compared to last week but are still down 13 percent compared to the same week in '08, when Alicia Keys' As I Am topped the charts.
Here's a rundown of the Top 10 albums:
1. The Fray, The Fray
2. Working on a Dream, Bruce Springsteen
3. Feel That Fire, Dierks Bentley
4. Fearless, Taylor Swift
5. I Am… Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé
6. Dark Horse, Nickelback
7. Kidz Bop 15, Kidz Bop Kids
8. Intuition, Jamie Foxx
9. 808s & Heartbreak, Kanye West
10. A Different Me, Keyshia Cole