All Hail Sonic Youth

After several weeks of holding on to the top spot with Rather Ripped, it's time to give Sonic Youth some major props.

The seminal campus radio band released its Confusion Is Sex debut LP in 1983, before releasing a trinity of albums that defined their uber New York City cool: EVOL (1986), Sister (1987) and Daydream Nation (1988). That led to their signing by Geffen Records and the release of the major label debut, Goo. Since 1996 (when the compiling of weekly charts began on ChartAttack), Sonic Youth have had superlative success on Canadian campus and community radio.

The group's last five Geffen studio albums have been released near the end of the spring every two years since 1998. All of them have entered the top 10 (where they usually stay for about eight weeks) and usually hit #1 before falling rapidly and disappearing after 12 to 15 weeks on the chart. A Thousand Leaves peaked at #1 on June 6 and June 27, 1998. NYC Ghosts & Flowers hit #1 for two straight weeks in June 2000. Sonic Nurse peaked at #3 in July 2002. Murray Street returned Sonic Youth to the coveted #1 spot for three weeks in late July and early August 2004. Now Rather Ripped has bested all of those albums and remains at #1 for a fourth week.

Challenging SY for #1 is Peaches' Impeach My Bush, which jumps three spots to #2. MSTRKRFT's The Looks debut album rockets up the chart 29 places to land solidly at #3. Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out Of This Country drops one place to #4, Vancougar's Losin' It! rises two places to #5, Hylozoists' La Fin Du Monde is trapped at #6 and Ladyhawk's self-titled debut tumbles five spots to #7.

The Chart Sizzler Award goes to the #8 entry, the debut album from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. The Eraser had help from 10 campus stations that charted it. The album reached #1 at CHSR (New Brunswick), #4 at CJSW (Calgary) and #5 at CFRC (Queen's). The runner-up for the top debut is Brazilian group CSS' Cansei De Ser Sexy at #19. It was followed by Oneida's Happy New Year at #22 and Tapes 'N Tapes' The Loon at #27.

Pink Mountaintops' Axis Of Evol is entering lofty territory by sitting at #35 for a second consecutive week. It's remained in the top 50 for 19 weeks. A former champ, Islands' Return To The Sea, re-enters at #33 in its 15th week on the chart. That time frame is matched by Equator labelmates The Lovely Feathers' Hind Hind Legs, which sits at #25. Both Tokyo Police Club's A Lesson In Crime at #9 and Final Fantasy's He Poos Clouds at #20 have done 12 weeks of service on the chart.

There are two new #1s on the specialty charts. The Kidd Jordan, Hamid Drake and William Parker collaboration called Palm Of Soul moves up one spot to grab #1 on the Jazz/Blues chart. The aforementioned MSTRKRFT album, The Looks, debuts at the top of the Electronic chart. Mr. Lif's Mo'Mega remains at #1 on the Hip-Hop top 10 and Cheb I Sabbah's La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixes retains its #1 spot on the World/Folk chart.

While Celtic Frost's Monotheist remains at #1 for a seventh straight week, there are some substantial changes just below it on the Metal/Punk chart. In fact, the next four entries are all new. Cancer Bats' Birthing The Giant debuts at #2, followed by Shadows Fall's Fallout From The War at #3, Strapping Young Lad's The New Black at #4 and Acacia Strain's The Dead Walk at #5. This is quite notable for a relatively stable chart that regularly features albums that remain in the top 10 for 10 to 15 weeks.