Slightly more than 10 years after his debut album was released, Robin Thicke has scored his first No. 1 album. "Blurred Lines," his sixth studio effort, starts atop the Billboard 200 with 177,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Led by its Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 title track, Thicke's album also nets the singer his best sales week ever. It easily surpasses his previous largest frame, when 2008's "Something Else" launched at No. 3 with 137,000.
Thicke's first album, "A Beautiful World," was released in April 2003, and spent one week on the chart at No. 152. The set was billed simply to Thicke (not Robin Thicke). His subsequent albums have since carried his full name.
Thicke is the sixth act this year to hit No. 1 more than a decade after their debut album was released. He follows Black Sabbath, Queens of the Stone Age, Daft Punk, Gary Allan and Chris Tomlin. (Fun fact: So far this year, only one artist—A$AP Rocky—has hit No. 1 with their first album.)
Coming in at No. 2 this week is rock band Five Finger Death Punch, which—like Thicke—also claims its best week. The band's "The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell: Volume 1" debuts at No. 2 with 112,000. It's both the highest-charting album and best sales week for the act. Its previous best week was logged when its last album, 2011's "American Capitalist," debuted and peaked with 90,000 at No. 3.
At No. 3 this week is Jay Z's "Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail," which slips one rung with 62,000 (down 20%).
Three more arrivals dot the top 10 this week.
Two of them start in the top five: Tech N9ne's "Something Else" at No. 4 (58,000) and Backstreet Boys' "In a World Like This" at No. 5 (48,000).
"Something Else" is indie rapper Tech N9ne's 19th charting set and equals his chart peak, claimed when 2011's "All 6's & 7's" also bowed at No. 4. "Something Else," however, does give Tech N9ne his best sales week, eclipsing the 56,000 debut of "All 6's.”
Tech N9ne himself is featured on two albums within the top five this week, as he's also a guest artist on Five Finger Death Punch's new set at No. 2. He collaborates with the band on a cover of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out."
After Tech N9ne's new album comes Backstreet Boys' "In a World Like This," debuting at No. 5. It's the ninth straight top 10 for the vocal group—its entire output of releases. The last group to hit the top 10 with each of their first nine charting albums was Sade between 1985 and 2011. Sade's streak is still currently intact.
"In a World Like This"—which is Backstreet Boys' first independently released album—is their highest-charting set since 2005's "Never Gone" debuted and peaked at No. 3.
The "Teen Beach Movie" TV movie soundtrack slides back three positions to No. 6, down a moderate 17% to 47,000. It has sold 129,000 in its three weeks of release.
Pop trio Emblem3 lands the fifth and final debut in the top 10 this week, as its first album, "Nothing to Lose," enters at No. 7 with 46,000. The group gained fame on the 2012 edition of Fox TV's competition show "The X Factor," where it placed fourth. The winner of this year's series, country singer Tate Stevens, debuted and peaked at No. 18 on the May 11 chart with his self-titled album, selling 17,000.
Last week's No. 1, Selena Gomez's "Stars Dance," falls to No. 8 with 31,000 (down 68%) while the "Kidz Bop 24" album slips 4-9 with 28,000 (down 27%). Florida Georgia Line's "Here's to the Good Times" rounds out the top 10, descending four slots to No. 10 with 28,000 (down 4%).
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...-billboard-200