Joel Plaskett Emergency Debuts @ #1

It's interesting that when a week of compiling charts is missed, there's suddenly a new #1 album. If I had moved into a new house during any other week in 2007, excluding the first week in February (when Julie Doiron's Woke Myself Up hit #1 in its second week on the chart), I wouldn't be making excuses for Joel Plaskett Emergency's Ashtray Rock arriving at #1 on the top 50 chart. Not that it's strange that Plaskett sits there. Two years ago, his La De Da solo album sat at #1 for five weeks.

The only other album to receive assistance in debuting on top was Broken Social Scene's self-titled effort, which arrived after a week of missed charts in October 2005...this due to my honeymoon...

Blonde Redhead's 23 debuts at #2. The previous chart-topper, You Say Party! We Say Die!'s Lose All Time, drops to #3. Arcade Fire's Neon Bible also slips a deuce to #4. Frog Eyes' Tears Of The Valedictorian enters at #5. LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver drops a notch to #6, while the self-titled album from Grinderman jumps five places to #7. Lesbians On Ecstasy's We Know You Know tumbles five spots to #8. Wooden Stars' People Are Different remains at #9, and Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before The Ship Ever Sank slips to #10.

With the Chart Sizzler Award going to Ashtray Rock, and the next two best debuts entering in the top 10, it's important to note that this trend of newbie dominance continues farther down the chart. Of the next 40 entries, 17 are debuts, and three more are re-entries. In fact, #11 through #15 are all new entries: Feist's The Reminder; Dog Day's Night Group; Electrelane's No Shouts No Calls; Bill Callahan's Woke On A Whaleheart; and the Secretly Canadian compilation, SC100.

There wasn't much turnover on the specialty charts due to the compilation gap. Three of the five still have the same #1 from two weeks ago. LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver is cemented at #1 on the Electronic chart, J Dilla's Ruff Draft is stuck at #1 on the Hip-Hop top 10 and Tinariwen's Aman Iman: Water Is Life continues to fight off all comers on the World/Folk chart. Avishai Cohen's As Is jumps three places to grab top spot on the Jazz/Blues chart.

Six Feet Under's Commandment pulls off the same trick that Ashtray Rock did on the main chart, debuting at #1 on the Metal/Punk list. The other oddity on this chart is the simultaneous arrival of four albums from the same record company, Century Media. Vital Remains' Icons Of Evil enters at #4, followed by Dark Tranquility's Fiction at #5, Finntroll's Ur Jordens Djup debut at #9 and Naglfar's Harvest at #10.