Rock band Avenged Sevenfold comes flying in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week. The group's sixth studio album, "Hail to the King," opens atop the list, selling 159,000 copies in its first week (according to Nielsen SoundScan).

It's the second-largest sales week for the rock band, just shy of the debut of its last album, 2010's "Nightmare" (No. 1 with 163,000).

The new album's title track has climbed to No. 12 on the Hot Rock Songs chart, and spent the past four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Active Rock airplay tally (viewable on Billboard.biz).

Avenged Sevenfold's opening is also the largest week for a hard rock album in more than a year. The last hard rock set to sell more in a week was Linkin Park's "Living Things," when it launched at No. 1 with 223,000 on the July 14, 2012, chart. The two bands also happen to be labelmates—both are on Warner Bros. Records.

Avenged Sevenfold's "Hail to the King" naturally also debuts at No. 1 on the Hard Rock Albums chart, the Alternative Albums chart and the overall Rock Albums chart. In total on the Billboard 200, "Hail to the King" is the band's third top 10 effort, following "Nightmare" and a self-titled set in 2007 (No. 4).

After two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Luke Bryan's "Crash My Party" falls to No. 2. The set sold 92,000 this past week (down 42%). It remains at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart for a third frame.

Rappers Big Sean and Juicy J are up next on the Billboard 200, as their latest albums bow at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Big Sean's "Hall of Fame" debuts with 72,000 while Juicy J's "Stay Trippy" launches with 64,000.

"Hall of Fame" follows Big Sean's debut studio effort, "Finally Famous," which opened at No. 3 in 2011 with 87,000. As for Juicy J, "Stay Trippy" easily marks his best sales week and highest-charting album. Until this week, he never reached higher than No. 93, with 2002's "Chronicles of the Juice Man: Underground Album."

The third and final debut in the top 10 is the various-artists tribute set "Alabama & Friends." The all-star country collection — celebrating the music of the band Alabama — bows at No. 8 with 32,000 sold. The 12-song album features an array of country stars covering some of Alabama's biggest hits, along with two new songs from the veteran band itself: "That's How I Was Raised" and "All American."

As for the non-debuts in the top 10 this week: Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" rises one spot to No. 5 with 55,000 (up 20%), and Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" vaults 22-6 with 37,000 (up 148%). Both artists benefit from exposure on the MTV Video Music Awards (Aug. 25), where they each performed. Timberlake also took home the video of the year award (for "Mirrors") and was celebrated with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award.

John Mayer's "Paradise Valley" slips 2-7 with 36,000 in its second week, down 75%. Bruno Mars, who performed and won on the VMAs, rises 18-9 with "Unorthodox Jukebox." It shifted another 27,000 this past week, up 29%.

Closing out the top 10 is TGT with "Three Kings," dropping 3-10 in its sophomore frame with nearly 27,000 (down 65%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Sept. 1) totaled 4.92 million units, up 1% compared with the sum last week (4.88 million) and up less than 1% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (4.90 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 185.9 million, down 6% compared with the same total at this point last year (197.4 million).

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2012 when: Matchbox Twenty's "North" entered at No. 1 with 95,000, giving the band its first chart-topper. Imagine Dragons' "Night Visions" started in the runner-up slot with 83,000.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...-billboard-200

I don't like it when the #1 sells less than 100,000.

They sold 159K though.

But..

for Luke Bryan.

When do we get predictions for next week?

Will Ariana top next week, or will NIN come out victorious?

Slaying side by side.

TGT second week in top 10.

LOL are they serious? LPs album is nowhere near "hard rock", it's electro rock or pop rock. A7X are probably the only ones that can sell this much with a metal / hard rock album these days.

So proud! Now please go gold!

#3. Big Sean - Hall of Fame - 72,000 (72,000)

#4. Juicy J - Stay Trippy - 64,000 (64,000)

#5. Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines - 55,000 (392,000)

#13. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist - 25,000 (1,042,000)

#14. Jay Z - Magna Carta Holy Grail - 24,000 (937,000)

#44. A$AP Ferg - Trap Lord - 9,000 (41,000)

#46. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city - 9,000 (1,020,000)

#49. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris - 8,000 (57,000)

#53. J. Cole - Born Sinner - 8,000 (587,000)

#56. Krizz Kaliko - Son of Sam - 8,000 (8,000)

Don't forget about TOOL. Last two albums each debut #1 with over 550k sold.

Next Album will be out in 2014.

In an unusually strong release week following Labor Day, a battle could be brewing for the top of next week's chart among the top three new releases. Here are this week's key debuts:

Ariana Grande (Republic) 110-115k
Tamar Braxton (Epic) 105-110k
Nine Inch Nails (Columbia) 100-105k
John Legend (Columbia) 50-55k
Jaheim (Atlantic) 40-45k
Bastille (Virgin) 27-30k

Keep it here for further forecasts as the week winds on, not to mention our assessment of the big Q4 releases and how single sales and pre-orders presage future chart stats. And if you don't care about that staff, stay tuned for a lot of pot jokes.

#56. Krizz Kaliko - Son of Sam - 8,000 (8,000)

Phillip Phillips at #55, which means he's now around 988,000. ~12K Till Platinum wooo

--

EDIT. He finally got that Platinum certification yesssss . So happy

Better than Juicy J though who has had bigger urban hits this time around.

Robin Thicke is not doing bad afterall.

Course not. That's a king

CHART DATE: 09/09/2013
LAST UPDATE: 09/09/2013 14:36:46
NOW IN: 68.46%


LW TW artist / album label power index
-- 1 ARIANA GRANDE REPUBLIC 102,074
YOURS TRULY
-- 2 TAMAR BRAXTON EPIC 99,496
LOVE & WAR
-- 3 NINE INCH NAILS COLUMBIA 58,099
HESITATION MARKS
-- 4 JOHN LEGEND COLUMBIA 46,067
LOVE IN THE FUTURE
2 5 LUKE BRYAN CAPITOL NASHVILLE 44,113
CRASH MY PARTY
-- 6 JAHEIM ATLANTIC 38,188
APPRECIATION DAY
5 7 ROBIN THICKE STAR TRAK/INTERSCOPE 37,939
BLURRED LINES
6 8 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE RCA 29,897
20/20 EXPERIENCE
-- 9 BASTILLE VIRGIN 28,287
BAD BLOOD
15 10 IMAGINE DRAGONS KIDINAKORNER/INTERSCOPE 27,043
NIGHT VISIONS
1 11 AVENGED SEVENFOLD WARNER BROS. 24,214
HAIL TO THE KING
25 12 BLAKE SHELTON WARNER BROS. NASHVILLE 18,273
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
27 13 P!NK RCA 17,172
TRUTH ABOUT LOVE
26 14 LANA DEL REY INTERSCOPE 14,587
BORN TO DIE
4 15 JUICY J COLUMBIA 14,454
STAY TRIPPY
7 16 JOHN MAYER COLUMBIA 14,190
PARADISE VALLEY
30 17 SARA BAREILLES EPIC 13,764
BLESSED UNREST
12 18 JAY Z ROC-A-FELLA/ROC NATION 13,588
MAGNA CARTA... HOLY GRAIL
16 19 FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE REPUBLIC NASHVILLE 13,236
HERE'S TO THE GOOD TIMES
-- 20 THE 1975 INTERSCOPE 13,178
THE 1975
13 21 TEEN BEACH WALT DISNEY 12,383
SOUNDTRACK
-- 22 NEKO CASE ANTI 12,117
THE WORSE THINGS GET, THE HARDER
10 23 NOW 47 UME 11,914
VARIOUS ARTISTS
11 24 TGT ATLANTIC 11,512
THREE KINGS
3 25 BIG SEAN DEF JAM/IDJ 11,501
HALL OF FAME
20 26 GREAT GATSBY INTERSCOPE 11,095
SOUNDTRACK
40 27 PITCH PERFECT UME 10,954
SOUNDTRACK
9 28 BRUNO MARS ATLANTIC 10,931
UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX
14 29 MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS MACKLEMORE 10,700
HEIST
32 30 LORDE LAVA/REPUBLIC 10,260
LOVE CLUB EP
8 31 ALABAMA & FRIENDS SHOW DOG 9,540
VARIOUS ARTISTS
31 32 ONE DIRECTION SYCO/COLUMBIA 7,953
TAKE ME HOME
21 33 SELENA GOMEZ HOLLYWOOD 7,518
STARS DANCE
-- 34 RAHEEM DEVAUGHN MASS APPEAL 7,408
A PLACE CALLED LOVE LAND
-- 35 VOLCANO CHOIR JAGJAGUWAR 6,972
REPAVE
18 36 FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH PROSPECT PARK 6,901
WRONG SIDE OF HEAVEN, VOL. 1
23 37 THE CIVIL WARS SENSIBILITY/COLUMBIA 6,428
THE CIVIL WARS
29 38 K. MICHELLE ATLANTIC 5,750
REBELLIOUS SOUL
-- 39 JASON ALDEAN BROKEN BOW 5,107
NIGHT TRAIN
35 40 DARIUS RUCKER CAPITOL NASHVILLE 5,013
TRUE BELIEVERS
19 41 ALEJANDRO FERNANDEZ UNIVERSAL MUSIC LATINO 4,990
CONFIDENCIAS
37 42 KIDZ BOP KIDS RAZOR & TIE 4,962
KIDS BOP 24
39 43 LUKE BRYAN CAPITOL NASHVILLE 4,925
TAILGATES & TANLINES
42 44 MUMFORD & SONS GLASSNOTE 4,867
BABEL
-- 45 TAYLOR SWIFT BIG MACHINE 4,601
RED
28 46 DAFT PUNK COLUMBIA 4,475
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES
44 47 MAROON 5 A&M/OCTONE 4,384
OVEREXPOSED
-- 48 KENNY CHESNEY BLUE CHAIR/COLUMBIA NASH 4,334
LIFE ON A ROCK
47 49 FALL OUT BOY ISLAND/IDJ 4,329
SAVE ROCK AND ROLL
45 50 KENDRICK LAMAR AFTERMATH/INTERSCOPE 4,248

Yass, Ariana, increase that gap