The National debuts at No. 3, Justin Bieber No. 1 on sad Billboard 200 chart

Dead Weather, Charice have top 10 start

By Katie Hasty Wednesday, May 19, 2010 12:34 PM

Justin Bieber

In one of the saddest sales weeks on the books, Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" returns to No. 1 of The Billboard 200. The hitch: the 60,000 it took to get back up there marks the second-lowest number for a No. 1 since SoundScan started compiling data in May 1991.

The worst-selling No. 1 happened back in January 2007, when the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack sold just a little worse than Bieber's number, also at 60,000 (Billboard is required round their numbers off when reporting SoundScan sales).

This makes it four non-consecutive weeks on top for young Bieber.

Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" sits tight at No. 2 with 54,000, a down 44% in sales.

The National scores its highest Billboard 200 sales week and chart start as "High Violet" bows at No. 3 with 51,000. The New York band's last album "Boxer" (2007) peaked at No. 68.

Despite an 11% slips in sales, the AC/DC soundtrack to "Iron Man 2" ascends No. 8 to No. 4 with 48,000.

The Dead Weather's second album in a year, the new "Sea of Cowards," debuts at No. 5 with 45,000. 2009's "Horehound" entered at No. 6, only with 51,000.

Carole King and James Taylor's "Live at the Troubadour" slips No. 4 to No. 6 (44,000, -43%) and Usher's "Raymond v. Raymond" rises No. 10 to No. 7 (43,000, -16%).

Charice's self-titled debut debuts at No. 8, also with 43,000, with help from some visits on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and QVC last week.

Godsmack's "The Oracle" falls from the top spot to No. 9 also with 43,000 (-63%).

As I Lay Dying's "Powerless Rise" enters the albums chart at No. 10 with 38,000; the rockers' last album, 2007's "An Ocean Between Us," capped out at No. 8, with 39,000 in its first week.

Salesare down 12% compared to last week, and down 9% compared to the same week last year. Sales total for the year is down 10% compared to last year.

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.