D12's Devil's Night scared up 371,881 copies in its first week of sales, according to SoundScan, to debut at Number One. Theirs is a hearty figure, yet considerably smaller than the 1.8 million copies of The Marshall Mathers LP that Eminem scanned last year.
Devil's Night led a charge of new releases seizing the charts, with five newcomers into the Top Ten, only the second time so many rookies have done so this year. Luther Vandross' self-titled return to form was the surprise contender selling 135,386 copies and just edging out last summer's R&B phenom, Sisqo, whose Return of Dragon landed at Number Eight. Stone Temple Pilots and 311 repped for rock putting their Shangri-La Dee Da and From Chaos just inside the Top Ten. Outside of the newcomers, the Top Ten showed some signs of summer life, as eight albums scratched more than 100,000 copies sold, the most since the week of May 20th (which itself was the most since February), with STP falling a mere 2,000 copies short of breaking six figures.
Elsewhere, the charts were raining debuts. Ray J's This Ain't a Game (Number Twenty-one), Mandy Moore's Mandy Moore (Number Thirty-five), the Baby Boy soundtrack (Number Forty Seven), Widespread Panic's Don't Tell the Band (Number Fifty-seven), Pennywise's Land of the Free (Number Sixty-seven) and the soundtrack to Dr. Doolittle 2 (Number Seventy-six) all picked up enough sales to break the Top 100. And Gorillaz's Gorillaz, a side project featuring Blur frontman Damon Albarn sold 43,332 copies to debut at Number Thirty-nine. Check that with last week's debut of Travis' latest album, The Invisible Band (also Number Thirty-nine, with sales of 38,536), and the ceiling on sales for Brit rock imports no longer appears to be invisible.
Other sales milestones this week include Destiny's Child's Survivor and Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, both of which passed 2 million copies sold, and 112's Part III and Eve's Scorpion, which both topped 1 million sales.
Next week doesn't look to be as dazzling. Jay-Z protégé Beanie Sigel's The Reason looks to be the best bet to climb towards the top, though Lil' Mo's Based on a True Story and Tricky's Blowback could also chalk up some steady sales. But releases from Air Supply and the Bacon Brothers don't exactly suggest fresh air and sizzle.
This week's Top Ten: D12's Devil's Night (371,881 copies sold); Staind's Break the Cycle (189,944); Blink-182's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (165,870); Destiny's Child's Survivor (164,853); the Moulin Rouge soundtrack (136,650); Luther Vandross' Luther Vandross (135,386); Sisqo's Return of Dragon (123,515); St. Lunatics' Free City (119,858); Stone Temple Pilots' Shangri-La Dee Da (98,127); and 311's From Chaos (82,657).