Midnight never seemed so bright.

Linkin Park’s latest, Minutes to Midnight, clocked in at number one on the Billboard 200 with the biggest sales debut of the year. The Rick Rubin-produced album, the band’s first in four years, sold 623,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

This tops 2007’s previous top openings, Norah Jones’ Not Too Late and Fall Out Boy’s Infinity on High, which each sold about 405,000 copies in back-to-back weeks in February. Only two albums had bigger first weeks that Minutes to Midnight in the past year, namely Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come (680,000 copies in November) and Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds (685,000 copies in September).

Minutes to Midnight, which alludes to the infamous Doomsday Clock, also debuted at number one in the U.K., Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Philippines, Italy, Sweden, Austria and Ireland. The lead single “What I’ve Done” already opened at number one on the Modern Rock Chart, while its video topped MTV’s Total Request Live.

Compared to previous albums, Midnight features more mid-tempo melodic tunes and a shift away from the group’s rap-vocal elements, changes touched upon in the new single.

“There are aspects of our music that we really used up—we dug out all the good parts of that style and now we are moving on,” says vocalist Chester Bennington. “It’s like, we know in our minds what we’ve done and where we’ve been, and now this is what we are going to do in the future.”

Linkin Park, which has earned two Grammys and registered north of 40 million in total albums, kick off its Projekt Revolution tour July 25 in Seattle.

Midnight led the way for five new albums in the Top 10. R&B singer Tank sold 103,000 copies of Sex, Love & Pain for a career-high number two debut. Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky sailed to number four on 87,000 copies, a career high of their own. Gretchen Wilson’s One of the Boys followed at five with 73,000 copies, which was actually a career low. Her previous opens included 227,000 first-week copies for 2004’s Here for the Party and 264,000 copies for 2005’s All Jacked Up.

And metal icons Megadeth checked in at eight with United Abominations selling 54,000.

Meanwhile, Michael Bublé’s Call Me Irresponsible, which held the top spot last week, slid to number three on 88,000 copies.

The other Top 10 holdovers were Avril Lavigne’s The Best Damn Thing at six, Ne-Yo’s Because of You at seven, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Strength & Loyalty at nine and Daughtry’s self-titled in the 10 spot.

Elsewhere, Rufus Wainwright bowed at 23, selling 24,000 copies of Release the Stars, and Pink Martini’s Hey Eugene!, entered at 30, moving 19,000. Both were chart bests for the artists.

Other noteworthy debuts included the Shrek the Third soundtrack at 44, Job for a Cowboy’s Genesis at 54 and Dolores O’Riordan’s Are You Listening? at 77.

Meanwhile, on the singles chart, the Beyoncé-Shakira collaboration “Beautiful Liar” leapt seven spots to number one.

Overall sales were up 1 percent over last week, but still lag behind last year, down 7 percent from the same period in 2006.

Here’s a recap of the Top 10:

1. Minutes to Midnight, Linkin Park
2. Sex, Love & Pain, Tank
3. Call Me Irresponsible, Michael Bublé
4. Sky Blue Sky, Wilco
5. One of the Boys, Gretchen Wilson
6. The Best Damn Thing, Avril Lavigne
7. Because of You, Ne-Yo
8. United Abominations, Megadeth
9. Strength & Loyalty, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
10. Daughtry, Daughtry

Credit: E! Online