Print-friendly Version
Album Chart: Diamond scores first No. 1
Neil Diamond --whose 40-plus-year career is in the midst of a renaissance, thanks largely to producer Rick Rubin--has landed his first No. 1 album with the Rubin-helmed "Home Before Dark."
Diamond's new set--his second with Rubin--sold about 146,000 copies during its first week in stores, more than enough to claim the No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200 chart. (Billboard bases its results on Nielsen SoundScan data).
Toby Keith 's best-of set, "35 Biggest Hits," trails Diamond with sales of about 103,000 copies to make its debut at No. 2.
The aforementioned pair of debuts push Madonna 's "Hard Candy," last week's No. 1, down to No. 3, while former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken debuts at No. 4 with "On My Way Here," and Mariah Carey 's "E=MC2" drops from No. 2 to No. 5.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Leona Lewis' "Spirit" at No. 6, Gavin DeGraw 's self-titled sophomore set at No. 7, Josh Groban 's live CD/DVD set "Awake Live" at No. 8, Dierks Bentley 's "Greatest Hits" at No. 9 and Luis Miguel 's "Complices" at No. 10.
