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AFI Plucks Chicks
06/14/2006 3:23 PM, E! Online
David Jenison
AFI's playing fox in the Dixie Chicks' henhouse.
The
California goth rockers stormed the coop with their seventh studio
album, Decemberunderground, ending the Texas trio's two-week run
atop the pop charts. Released on the appropriately demonic 6-6-06,
Decemberunderground finished the week ended Sunday by selling
more than 182,000 copies, per Nielsen SoundScan.
"It's an
amazing feeling to have something that you believe in so strongly, that
is so much a part of you touch so many people," says AFI vocalist Davey
Havok, "but it was truly our fans that did this. They have brought us
this recognition and we are deeply honored. I am truly elated not just
for us but for them as well."
In scorings its best one-week
sales mark, this summer's Vans Warped Tour coheadliner took the top spot
from the Chicks' high-profile comeback album, Taking the Long
Way, their first since their Bush-bashing in 2002. The disc, which
opened at number one with more than 500,000 in first-week sales, fell to
runner-up status in its third week on 175,000 copies.
The
latest Bad Boy rapper, Yung Joc, strapped in at number three bow with
New Joc City, which debuted with 148,000. The Atlanta-based emcee
benefits from the Top 40 hit "It's Goin' Down"--the first artist in P.
Diddy's Bad Boy stable to score a Top 40 hit since Mase's "Welcome Back"
and "Breathe, Stretch, Shake" in 2004.
Yung Joc narrowly edged
one of hip-hop's elder statesman, Ice Cube, whose Laugh Now, Cry
Later opened at number four, selling nearly 145,000. In the six
years since his last album, 2000's double-disc War & Peace, the
rapper furthered his acting career while struggling to work out a new
recording deal, most notably a failed negotiation with Dr. Dre's
Aftermath in 2002. Cube ultimately started his own label, Lench Mob
Records, through which he released his long-awaited return.
With Cars parked atop the box office, its soundtrack raced to the
seven spot on 68,000 discs. The disc features Rascal Flatts' version
of "Life Is a Highway," versions of "Route 66" by Chuck Berry and Brad Paisley, and other cuts by Sheryl Crow, James Taylor and John Mayer.
Meanwhile, R&B songbird Rihanna climbed back into the Top 10 as
Girl Like Me sold over 51,000 discs in its seventh week at number
nine. Total sales for the album now stand at 417,000 discs.
A
pair of albums, both in their 10th weeks, slid down four spots. Rascal
Flatts' Me & My Gang dropped to eight on 65,000 copies, while
Now That's What I Call Music! 21 skidded to 10 on 48,000 copies
(edging Gnarls Barkley's surging debut, St. Elsewhere, by about
700 copies as the latter jumped 10 spots to 11). Rounding out the Top 10
were a couple of former chart-toppers, the High School Musical
soundtrack, now at five, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium
Arcadium at six.
Another rapper also had a strong debut as
DJ Khaled landed at 12 with Listennn... The Album! moving 44,000
copies. The New Orleans-born, Miami-based artist is also a radio deejay
and a member of Fat Joe's Terror Squad, best known for the 2004 radio
hit "Lean Back."
Other noteworthy debuts included the Blue
Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road at 19, the 51-track Vans
Warped Tour '06 compilation (which ironically doesn't feature a
track by AFI) at 27, Live's Songs from Black Mountain at 52, Head
Automatica's Popaganda at 69, Zero 7's The Garden at 94
and Cheap Trick's Rockford at 101.
Overall sales were
down nearly 15 percent from this same week last year, and year-to-date
album sales still lag behind 2005.
Here's a recap of last
week's Top 10 albums:
1. Decemberunderground, AFI
2. Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
3. New Joc
City, Yung Joc
4. Laugh Now, Cry Later, Ice Cube
5. High School Musical soundtrack, various
6. Stadium
Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. Cars soundtrack,
various
8. Me & My Gang, Rascal Flatts
9. Girl Like
Me, Rhianna
10. Now That's What I Call Music! 21,
various
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