Holy Fuck! A New #1 Album

After three weeks when only one chart was compiled, things should be speeding up nicely as we plow full-speed ahead into 2008. With programmers and music directors back in the saddle for the winter session of university, there was quite a bit of upheaval among the top 10 albums on the top 50 chart.

First of all, a former #1 recaptures the top spot as Holy Fuck's LP moves up one place to reclaim the position that it held during the week ending Nov. 30, 2007. Last week's top dog, Buck 65's Situation, drops a spot to #2. Cuff The Duke's Sidelines Of The City improves by four places to #3. Evaporators' Gassy Jack And Other Tales drops a notch to #4 and is followed by the rapidly rising Sigur Ros double album, Hvarf/Heim, which jumps 16 spots to #5. Besting that performance is this week's Chart Sizzler Award winner, Katie Stelmanis' Join Us, which debuts at #6. Join Us received some major support from five campus stations last week and sat at #1 on both CFBU (Brock) and CHRY (York), #2 on CFRU (Guelph), #3 on CKXU (Lethbridge) and #8 on CJAM (Windsor).

Returning to the top 10 after a week's absence is a former #1, Caribou's Andorra, the "Energizer Bunny" of the top 50 that's spent 19 weeks on the chart. It checks in at #7 this week, up four spots. Radiohead's In Rainbows bounces back up two spots to #8, a place it held two charts ago. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Ask Forgiveness EP rises 10 places to #9, while Barmitzvah Brothers' Let's Express Our Motives drops four spots to #10.

Looking at the rest of the top 50, eight albums re-entered the chart, most notably We Are Wolves' Total Magique at #28. Other key debuts this week include Elbow Beach Surf Club's Billy Club EP at #19, Tullycraft's Every Scene Needs A Center at #35 and The Summerlad's City Of Noise at #49. Stars' In Our Bedroom After The War drops 25 places to #45 in its 19th week on the chart, matching the length of Caribou's stay. Stars are still three weeks away from matching the reign of their last album, Set Yourself On Fire, in late 2004 and early 2005.

On the specialty charts, the most change occurred on Jazz/Blues, where only three of the 10 entries return from the last chart. Brad Turner Quartet's Small Wonder falls to #3 and the new #1 is Richard Underhill's Kensington Suite, which rises four spots. The only other specialty chart with a new #1 is Metal/Punk, which features a returning #1 album. High On Fire's Death Is The Communion, in its 15th week on the chart, rises three places to recapture the top spot after sitting there for the majority of October and November. Buck 65's Situation remains at #1 on Hip-Hop, Holy Fuck's LP continues to have a stranglehold on the Electronic chart, and Youssou N'Dour's Rokku Mi Rokka stills rules World/Folk.