VanGaalen At #1 For 4th Week

For the fourth consecutive week, Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane remains at #1. He is just cleaning up on the charts over the past two weeks.  His latest album received 1681 points outdistancing the runner up Stereolab’s Chemical Chords (rising three spots to #2) received 620 points. This relatively low number of accumulated points is somewhat unprecedented as the #2 album usually receives between 800 to 1000 points. Women’s self-titled album with 580 points rebounds backs up the chart moving eight spots to return to #3 followed by Winter Gloves’ About A Girl jumping up a similar eight spots to land at #4. It received 579 points and marks the second week in a row that the #3 and #4 albums were separated by only one point. Last week The Stills’ Oceans Will Rise (688 points) beat out Elliott Brood’s Mountain Meadows (687 points) by a single point.

Fembots’ Calling Out jumps three spots to #5 while Stills’ Oceans Will Rise falls three spots to #6. Novillero’s A Little Tradition moves up two places to #7 and Elliott Brood’s Mountain Meadows falls five positions to #9. Only Human Highway’s Moody Motorcycle tumbling eight positions to #10 had a worst fall in the top ten.

The Chart Sizzler competition this week took a back seat the move of incumbent albums on the chart. The highest debut is located in the bottom 20 for the first time this year. Coming in at #32 is Brian Wilson’s That Lucky Old Sun followed closely by Damien Jurado’s Caught In The Trees debuting at #34 and TV On The Radio’s Dear Science appearing at #37. The rest of the new entries, a small class of only seven, include the self-titled Adventure album arriving at #40, while Land Of Talk’s Some Are Lakes debuts at #44. Bad Flirt’s Virgin Talk enters at #46 and Soiree’s Minor Details comes in at #49.

The specialty charts saw the usual weekly ups and downs. Three of the five top ten charts had albums that previous  sat at #1 returning to that position. After a two week absence, Moka Only’s Clap Trap alnds back at #1 ion the Hip Hop chart. Jane Bunnett’s Embracing Voices missed only one week on the Jazz/Blues chart before reappearing at #1 again. Dandi Wind’s Yolk Of The Golden Egg was at #1 on the Electronic chart two weeks ago and matches that feat again this week. Chiwoniso’s Rebel Woman remains at #1 on the World/Folk chart for a second consecutive week and four weeks in total. Finally, there is an album that has never sat at #1 on the Metal/Punk top ten, as Toxic Holocaust’s An Overdose Of Death moves up a spot to capture the #1 spot on this specialty chart.