Dave Matthews Band earned its fourth No. 1 on the U.S. pop albums chart Wednesday as “Stand Up” bowed way ahead of the competition with sales of 464,500 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The incumbent champ, Nine Inch Nails’ “With Teeth” (Nothing/Interscope), slid to No. 5 with 89,400 copies in the week ended May 15.
DMB’s first RCA studio album in three years fell short of its last appearance on the Billboard 200, when “Busted Stuff” started at No. 1 with 622,000 units. To-date, the set has sold 1.9 million.
At less than half of DMB’s sales, Weezer’s “Make Believe” (Geffen) started at No. 2 with almost 193,000 copies, the highest Billboard 200 showing for the group. It previously went as high as No. 3 with “Maladroit” in 2002. That album started with 152,000 and has sold 583,000 so far.
Weezer’s entry ended the three-week second-place stint of Mariah Carey’s “The Emancipation of Mimi” (Island/Def Jam), which dipped to No. 3 with almost 173,000 copies.
Dierks Bentley earned his first top 10 debut with “Modern Day Drifter” (Capitol Nashville), which started at No. 6 with 75,000 copies and also earned the artist his first No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums list.
Rounding out the top tier, 50 Cent’s “The Massacre” (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) held at No. 4 for a second week with 89,700 copies;
Gwen Stefani’s “Love, Angel, Music, Baby” (Interscope) was No. 7 for a second week with 74,000;
Rob Thomas’ “…Something To Be” (Melisma/Atlantic) fell five to No. 8 with 67,000; Mike Jones’ “Who Is Mike Jones?” (Swishahouse/Asylum/Warner Bros.) climbed one to No. 9 with 59,000; and
Bruce Springsteen’s former charter-topper “Devils & Dust” (Columbia) dropped five to No. 10 with 54,000.
John Cena & Tha Trademarc’s “You Can’t See Me” (Sony) opened at No. 15 with sales of 43,000, marking the first chart appearance for the hip-hop act and professional wrestling champion.
With 42,000 copies, the Starting Line entered The Billboard 200 at No. 18 with its fourth and highest-charting Drive-Thru effort, “Based on a True Story.” The group’s previous set, “Say It Like You Mean It,” started at No. 109 with 11,000 and boasts a to-date total of 306,000.
Top 50 debuts this week include Van Zant’s “Get Right With the Man” (Columbia) at No. 21 with 41,000;
Robert Plant and Strange Sensation’s “Mighty Rearranger” (Sanctuary) at No. 22 with 39,000; Spoon’s “Gimme Fiction” (Merge) at a career-best No. 44 with 20,000; and Styx’s “Big Bang Theory” (New Door) at No. 46 with 19,000.
Overall U.S. album sales were down 8% from the previous week at 10.2 million units, about 13% lower than the same week last year. 2005 sales trail those of last year by 9% at 207 million units.
Credit: Billboard