Islands Strong-Arm Their Way To The Top

Rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit! It's an old British superstition that if the first words out of your mouth are "rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit," you'll have good luck that month. This superstition doesn't apply to the written word, but with a new month the top 50 chart has a new #1 album to celebrate. Given the option of having good luck or an excuse to celebrate, I'll take the latter.

Islands' Arm's Way rises two positions to take over the top spot. Portishead's Third also climbs by two to finish second. These two albums forced last week's champ, Constantines' Kensington Heights, down two places to #3. The Black Keys' Attack & Release also drops a deuce to #4. Flight Of The Conchords' eponymous album jumps two positions to #5, as does Teenage Head With Marky Ramone to #6. The first album to break the two-spot movement trend is No Age's Nouns, which jumps five places to #7. It's followed by Tokyo Police Club's Elephant Shell, which drops two spots to #8. Duchess Says' Anthologie Des 3 Perchoirs improves by two to #9, while Crystal Castles' self-titled work falls by five to round out the top 10.

The Chart Sizzler Award for the top debut of the week goes to Beeramid by Fuad & The Feztones, who feature The Gruesomes' Bobby Beaton. Beeramid enters the chart at #17 and is followed by '80s Seattle quartet Mudhoney, whose The Lucky Ones debuts at #19. Friendly Rich And The Lollipop People's Dinosaur Power checks in at #24.

There's only new album among the #1s on the five specialty charts. Matmos' Supreme Balloon jumps nine places to grab top spot on the Electronic chart. Atmosphere's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold stays at the top of the hip-hop chart. Rabnett 5's Leopardism claims the #1 spot on the Jazz/Blues top 10. Testament's The Formation Of A Damnation maintains its grasp on Metal/Punk, as does the Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump compilation on World/Folk.