Charty Chart Chat: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Pick Up The Slack

For the first time in its history, the top 50 chart is led by a band whose name is derived from a Hollywood film: They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. The group share their name with a 1969 film about depression dance competitions that starred Jane Fonda and Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin. The Vancouver band's Pick Up Sticks album rose from #4 to take the top spot.

Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga falls to #2 and Metric's Grow Up & Blow Away drops a spot to #3. Caribou's Melody Day jumps 24 places to #4 in its second week. The White Stripes' Icky Thump remains at #5 while Immaculate Machine's Fables drops three spots to #6. Interpol's Our Love To Admire jumps 40 positions to #7. Beastie Boys' The Mix-Up returns to the top 10 after a week's absence, moving three spots to #8. Wax Mannequin's Orchard & Ire rises three notches to #9, while Shapes And Sizes' Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner moves up eight places to #10 and enters the top 10 for a second time after peaking at #7 six weeks ago.

The Chart Sizzler Award goes to an unlikely album: Element Kuuda's Le Village, which enters at #26 on the strength of placements from three influential stations. It was #1 on CHUO (Ottawa), #6 on CKUT (McGill) and #11 on CHRY (York). Close behind were Russian Futurists' Me, Myself And Rye at #30 and Justice's † at #31. Other notable new entries include Hot Little Rocket's How To Lose Everything at #36, Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist at #44 and The Cribs' Men's Needs, Women's Need at #50.

The specialty charts have some decent top album turnover, as three of the five see last week's #2 entry jump to the top. Digitalism's Idealism hits #1 on the Electronic chart in the same week of its #5 debut on the top 50 chart. Dizzee Rascal's Maths + English grabs top honours on the Hip-Hop list and Jennifer Scott Quartet's Live At The Cellar rises to #1 on Jazz/Blues. 3 Inches Of Blood's Fire Up The Blades holds onto #1 on the Metal/Punk chart for a sixth consecutive week and Dobet Gnahore's Na Afriki remains at #1 on the World/Folk top 10 for a second week.