Caribou Fends Off New Pornographers

09/28/07 5:00pm

by Chris Burland (CHARTattack)

Caribou held off frequent campus radio chart rulers The New Pornographers from taking over the top spot on the Canadian campus/community chart for the week ending Sept. 14. Each of The New Pornographers' first three albums have spent significant time at #1, and the first two spent at least 20 weeks in the top 50, so it seems inevitable that they'll reach #1 again with the recently released Challengers.

M.I.A.'s Kala remained at #3, with Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga rising a spot to #4. Hot Springs' Volcano rose 17 spots to #5. Okkervil River's The Stage Names fell four spots to #6, while both Torngat's You Could Be at #7 and Tegan And Sara's The Con at #8 improved by one place. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Is Is EP jumped two spots to #9 and Rilo Kiley's Under The Blacklight moved up 14 places to #10.

The Chart Sizzler Award went to one of those many Montreal-based bands with a "wolf" connection. We Are Wolves' Total Magique entered the chart at #11 after receiving major support from various stations in Quebec, including #1 at CHOQ (Quebec at Montreal), # 7 at CIBL, #14 at CHYZ (Laval) and #22 at CISM (Montreal). Devendra Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon had the runner-up debut at #18, with Pinback's Autumn Of The Seraphs at #26 and I See Rowboats' Hide & Seek Behind The Throne EP at #31.

There were three new #1s among the five specialty charts. Andorra moved up a spot to take over the top of the Electronic chart. Gaudi + Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Dub Qawwali returned to the #1 spot on the World/Folk top 10 after a week's absence. Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass debuted at #1 on the Hip-Hop chart. Papa Mambo's Crooked Cha remained on top of the Jazz/Blues chart and 3 Inches Of Blood's Fire Up The Blades was #1 on Metal/Punk, a position its held for 12 of the past 14 weeks.

Speaking of albums that have spent long periods of time on the specialty charts, Chromeo's Fancy Footwork was at #7 in its 18th week on the Electronic chart. Only three other albums have lasted longer on any specialty chart. The king of this class is Dimmu Borgir's Death Camp Armageddon, which spent 21 weeks on the Metal/Punk chart in late 2003 and early 2004. Two albums have put in 19 weeks on the Hip-Hop chart: Blackalcious' Blazing Arrow in 2002; and K-OS' Joyful Rebellion in late 2005 and early 2006.