AC/DC rocked its way to the top of the US sales charts, as the band's latest studio offering, "Black Ice," racked up first-week sales of more than 780,000 copies.

The new album, which is being sold in the US exclusively through Walmart and Sam's Club locations, as well as online at walmart.com, samsclub.com and the band's website, sold an estimated 193,000 copies on its day of release, according to Billboard.

Although Billboard hasn't officially released its chart stats for the current week, nothing is expected to top AC/DC's sales figures for the new set, which also represents the quickest-selling album for Walmart this year, according to a press release.

The retailer set up "AC/DC Rock Again Store" mini-stores within all of its outlets to hype "Black Ice," featuring AC/DC-branded clothing, DVDs, music and even video games; the "AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack" will be available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 starting Nov. 2, with the Wii version arriving Nov. 6.

According to AC/DC's camp, "Black Ice" will debut at No. 1 in 29 countries this week. More than 5 million copies of the album have been shipped worldwide.

The flurry of AC/DC-related activity comes just ahead of the band's looming US tour, which kicks off tonight (10/28) in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The trek is set to visit US cities from coast to coast as well as a couple of Canadian provinces through late January. Stops include two-night stands in New York City; Rosemont, IL; Oakland, CA; and the Los Angeles area.

The group played a "final dress rehearsal" Sunday (10/26) in Wilkes-Barre before an audience made up of industry figures and thousands of contest winners, with a 13-song set touching briefly on material from the new album before segueing into the group's deep catalog of classic rock hits.

Dates for the tour, most of which are already sold out, are displayed below. The group plans a European trek stretching from February through April following the US outing. Those dates can be found at AC/DC's official website.

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