For the second week in a row, the album charts are topped with a little twang. Last week,
Reba McEntire dethroned feuding rappers Kanye West and 50 Cent with her
'Duets' album, making her first-ever No.1 debut on the pop charts. This week, country trio
Rascal Flatts goes one-step further with their new CD,
'Still Feels Good,' not only debuting at the top but also immediately certifying gold with well over 500,000 copies sold. That's not much of a surprise, considering the band's last album made them 2006's best-selling act of any genre. Not to mention their immense success
pissing off Nashville by crossing over into the pop world with songs like 'What Hurts The Most.'
- Country may trump hip-hop this week, but rockers aren't so lucky. Foo Fighters come in third behind hip-hop songstress Keyshia Cole, who stakes claim to the No.2 spot with her third album, 'Just Like You.' Cole, in fact, sold over 100,000 more units than the rockers' new album, 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.' This sixth studio album from Dave Grohl and Co. includes a Courtney Love-Kurt Cobain inspired song called 'Let It Die' (a pretty counter-productive title in that it's certain to only fuel the flames in the ongoing Grohl-Love hatefest).
- Rock goddess Joni Mitchell enters the charts at No.14 with her highly-anticipated 17th studio album, 'Shine.' It's her first recording of new songs in almost nine years. Two pivotal songs on the album -- 'If' and 'If I Had a Heart' -- were actually written by Mitchell for use in a Canadian ballet. Pairing those two songs with eight other new tracks results in a project that reminds us why Mitchell is one of the most celebrated songwriters of our time.
- In all fairness for those who didn't crack the Top Five, this was quite a release-heavy week, with lots of big-name artists dropping new albums, including seasoned ladies Melissa Etheridge, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott, Queen Latifah and, of course, the previously mentioned Mitchell.
The top five albums for the week ending September 30:
- 'Still Feels Good,' Rascal Flatts (545,000 in 1st week)
- 'Just Like You,' Keyshia Cole (281,000 in 1st week)
- 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace,' Foo Fighters (168,000 in 1st week)
- 'Real Thing: Words and Sounds Volume 3,' Jill Scott (148,000 in 1st week)
- 'Graduation,' Kanye West (133,000 in 3rd week; 1,317,000 total)
