Charts: The (Bright) Eyes Have It!

Wed., Apr. 18, 2007 1:23 PM PDT by David Jenison

It might be storming in America, but it's a drought on the charts.

After several weeks jam-packed with Top 10 debuts, only three albums managed to crack the Top 50, and even the number one album couldn't break the 90,000-copy mark.

For the week ended Sunday, sluggish sales allowed Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 24 to retain the top spot on just 89,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released today.

The producer-driven Timbaland Presents Shock Value epitomizes the dire retail state. This past week, the album single "Give It to Me," featuring Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, impressively took over the number one spot on the Hot 100, making a 41-spot leap. Regardless, the disc had a 58 percent sales drop, but still held on to the number five spot.

Breaking through the storm cloud, however, was indie darling Bright Eyes, whose latest, Cassadaga, led all new releases at number four. The Omaha-based, Conor Oberst-fronted group sold 58,000 copies of the new disc in its first week, topping the band's number 10 opening for 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.

The next best bow belonged to HELLYEAH, a metalhead supergroup featuring members of Pantera, Mudvayne and Nothingface. Following an appearance on the cover of Revolver magazine and a headlining slot on this summer's Family Values Tour, HELLYEAH sold 45,000 copies of its self-titled debut to enter at number nine.

HELLYEAH represents the first album for drummer Vinnie Paul since brother "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was shot to death at an Ohio club in 2004. The siblings, previously with Pantera, were performing as Damageplan at the time.

Familiar faces filled the rest of the Top 10 spots with Tim McGraw's Let It Go at two, Akon's Konvicted at three, Daughtry's self-titled at six, Beyoncé's B'Day at seven, Martina McBride's Waking Up Laughing at eight and Alison Krauss' A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection holding down the 10 spot.

Latin heartthrob Chayanne landed the only other Top 50 debut with his latest, Mi Tiempo, selling nearly 17,000 discs.

Other noteworthy debuts included the Clark Sisters' Live—One Last Time at 56, Blonde Redhead's 23 at 63, Brother Ali's Undisputed Truth at 69 and deejay Tiësto at 74 with Elements of Life.

Finally, Long Island emo-rockers From Autumn to Ashes sold 10,000 copies of Holding a Wolf by the Ears for a number 74 finish. This marks the group's first album since the departure of singer Ben Perri. Their previous disc, 2005's Abandon Your Friends, opened at 58.

Overall, the Billboard 200's total sales were just under 2.6 million copies, compared to more than 4.2 million copies the previous week. That's a 39 percent drop between weeks. Total album sales are off 32 percent from this time in 2006.

Here's a recap of the Top 10:

1. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 24, various
2. Let It Go, Tim McGraw
3. Konvicted, Akon
4. Cassadaga, Bright Eyes
5. Timbaland Presents Shock Value, Timbaland
6. Daughtry, Daughtry
7. B'Day, Beyoncé
8. Waking Up Laughing, Martina McBride
9. HELLYEAH, HELLYEAH
10. A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection, Alison Krauss