A speed bump on Miley Cyrus' path to world domination.
While her ongoing split-personality tour and new tour-based movie remain the hottest tickets in the country, her new album didn't quite have enough juice to rock the charts.
The Disney popster's new Hannah Montana 2: Nonstop Dance Party sold 40,000 copies to open at number seven for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan figures released today. The new collection features remixes of the original HM2 soundtrack, which currently sits at number 10 on the charts. (Both the Hannah Montana and Hannah Montana 2 albums had long runs at number one.)
Lest you think you were going to escape the tween queen, think again. The 3-D concert film Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds topped last weekend's box office with unprecedented sales and is expected to remain a big draw in the coming days.
A trio of other newbies actually rated higher than the Hannah Montana retread.
The Mars Volta landed the week's biggest bow, and the highest chart position of its career, selling 54,000 copies of The Bedlam in Goliath at number three. The band claims it was cursed by an ancient Ouija board one member bought in Jerusalem and that this album attempts to eliminate those bad vibes. Or some such.
Welsh metalheads Bullet for My Valentine followed at four with a career-high 53,000 in sales of Scream Aim Fire. The group, whose 2006 album The Poison opened way down at 128, is famous for getting the boot from a Rob Zombie tour after talking smack on their message boards. Bullet is headed back to the U.S. as part of the Taste of Chaos tour, which kicks off Feb. 29 in Denver.
The 2008 Grammy Nominees collection also made a strong showing, selling 50,000 to open at number five.
Further on up the chart, Alicia Keys and the Juno soundtrack flip-flopped, with the latter falling to second place after one week on top. Keys' As I Am notched its fourth nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200, selling 61,000 copies; Juno moved another 55,000.
Meanwhile, Sarah Brightman's Symphony just missed the Top 10 but still scored a career-high for the operatic Brit as she sold 31,000 at number 13.
NYC's much hyped blog baby Vampire Weekend sold nearly 28,000 copies of its self-titled debut at 17. (The album already came out last month in the U.K., where it opened at 22).
Andrea Bocelli's Vivere: Live in Tuscany followed at 22, selling 22,000, while Shelby Lynne's tribute to Dusty Springfield, Just a Little Lovin', sold 16,000 copies at 41. Another country vet, Willie Nelson, sold 13,000 copies of Moment of Forever at 56.
Other notable debuts include Broadway star Idina Menzel at 58 with I Stand, Wal-Mart's exclusive High School Musical: Be Mine Valentine-themed EP at 65, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir's I'll Say Yes at 80 and Protest the Hero's Fortress at 95.
Finally, Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High celebrated its one-year anniversary on the charts this week, though only by a thread. The album dropped 23 spots in its birthday week, to 195, selling just over 3,000 copies. Infinity's one-year tally exceeds 1.2 million copies.
Overall, sales are up 4 percent from last week but down 19 percent compared to the same period last year, which featured Infinity's debut.
Here's a rundown of the Top 10 albums:
1. As I Am, Alicia Keys
2. Juno soundtrack, various
3. The Bedlam in Goliath, the Mars Volta
4. Scream Aim Fire, Bullet for My Valentine
5. 2008 Grammy Nominees, various
6. Growing Pains, Mary J. Blige
7. Hannah Montana 2: Nonstop Dance Party, Miley Cyrus
8. Just Like You, Keyshia Cole
9. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift
10. Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, Miley Cyrus