LOS ANGELES: US rock band Bon Jovi beat British singer David Bowie to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday.
Bon Jovi, fronted by Jon Bon Jovi, notched their fifth number one album with What About Now, which sold 101,000 copies in its debut week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Bowie, 66, a pioneer of Britain’s glam rock movement in the ‘70s and ‘80s, came in at number two with his latest album The Next Day, selling 85,000 copies.
Bowie’s album sold more digital copies than Bon Jovi, with 41,000 copies of The Next Day downloaded in comparison to 34,000 copies of What About Now, which was a bigger seller in retail shops, Billboard magazine said.
Bowie has yet to score a number one album in the United States despite having released 27 studio albums in his career.
The Next Day marks the singer’s unexpected return to music after a decade-long hiatus, and it topped the British album chart last week while Bon Jovi came in at number two.
Bon Jovi and Bowie led among six new debuts in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week.
Christian music compilation album Passion: Let the Future In landed at number four, R&B band Mindless Behavior debuted at number six with All Around The World, and Eric Clapton’s latest release, Old Sock, came in at number seven.
Sound City — Real to Reel, the star-studded compilation soundtrack to Foo Fighter frontman Dave Grohl’s documentary Sound City, which features Paul McCartney and Stevie Nicks, landed at number eight this week.
Legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix’s People, Hell and Angels, the 12th posthumous album from the late rock star’s label and which contained 12 previously unreleased studio recordings, rounded out the top 10 this week.
Total US album sales in the past week totaled 5.6 million units, while the year-to-date album sales tally of 61.4 million is down 7% from the same period in 2012.
Music industry analysts expect Justin Timberlake’s new album The 20/20 Experience to top the Billboard 200 chart next week and sell as many as 750,000 copies in its first week.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2013.
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