Kenny Chesney beats Lil Wayne at No. 1 on The Billboard 200

Where did new albums from Gucci Mane and Eric Clapton start?

By Katie Hasty Wednesday, Oct 6, 2010 12:33 PM

Kenny Chesney

Credit: AP Photo

Kenny Chesney’s “Hemingway’s Whiskey” debuts at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 this week, making it the country singer’s sixth chart-topper. The set enters with 183,000, slightly better than his last “Lucky Old Sun” from 2008, which started with 176,000.

That puts Lil Waynes EP-turned-full-length “I Am Not a Human Being” at No. 2 with 110,000, his second runner-up album this year. The incarcerated rapper’s rock-rap experiment “Rebirth” also started at No. 2, in February, with 176,000. This week marks only the tally of digital albums sold; the physical CD comes out on Oct. 12 and includes three more tracks than the digital set.

Zac Brown Band’s “You Get What You Give” slips No. 1 to No. 3 with 70,000 copies, down 54% in sales.

Gucci Mane’s “The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted” enters at No. 4 with 60,000, coming on the heels of the No. 10 peak of last year’s “The State Vs. Radric Davis.”

Eric Clapton’s new album “Clapton” debuts at No. 6 with 47,000, making it the veteran guitarist’s 13^th top 10 album. This set mixes up covers and originals; his last set of originals, “Back Home,” peaked at No. 13 in 2005. He’s now had a top 10 set for every decade since the 1970s.

Eminem’s “Recovery” falls No. 4 to No. 5 (59,000, -10%), Trey Songz’ “Passion, Pain and Pleasure” sits tight at No. 7 for a second week (42,000, -36%), Linkin Park’s “A Thousand Suns” slips No. 5 to No. 8 (42,000, -40%), Maroon 5’s “Hands All Over” moves No. 2 to No. 9 (41,000, -71%) and Selena Gomez and the Scene’s “A Year Without Rain” descends No. 4 to No. 10 (38,000, -42%).

Sales are up 6% compared to last week and are down a whopping 23% compared to the same sales week last year. Sales are down 13% compared to last year so far.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.