Ohbijou's Beacon Shines At #1

08/05/09 1:11pm

by Chris Burland (CHARTattack)

After a few weeks of the Americans battling for the top of the chart, its Canada's turn to dominate the top of the chart with a newcomer and a surprisingly resurgent older album.

Toronto collective Ohbijou rise two places to grab #1. Their latest album, Beacons, jumped into the top 10 last week, and its popularity continues with a rise to the top spot during a week where no album received over 900 cumulative points. The top three albums had over 800 points, so it was a close race.

The runner-up album in this battle for #1 is the self-titled release by Clues. This album has hung around the top of the charts for almost three months.

The Rural Alberta Advantage's Hometowns debuts at #3 with the highest entry of the week since the debut of Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer at #2 during the week of June 26, 2008.

Sunset Rubdown's Dragonslayer holds the #4 position this week, while Wilco's Wilco (The Album), last week's chart topper, falls four places to #5. Dinosaur Jr.'s Farm rebounds three places to #6, with The Lovely Feathers' Fantasy Of The Lot remaining at #7.

The self-titled release by Reverie Sound Revue slides down three notches to #8, and Sonic Youth's The Eternal tumbles seven positions to #9 while Tortoise's Beacons Of Ancestorship rises two spots to #10.

After a month of less-than-normal amounts of new entries, there were a healthy number of debuts this week (15) that almost stretch from the top to the bottom of the chart.

The Dead Weather's Horehound enters at #11, The Wind Whistles' Animals Are People Too debuts at #20. The Donnas' Greatest Hits, Volume 16 hits the chart at #35 and Magnolia Electric Co.'s Josephine arrives at #44.

The longest-serving album on the charts belongs to Joel Plaskett. Three has hung around 18 weeks, rising one place this week to #22. Pink Mountaintops' Outside Love falls 29 places to #46 in its 15th week on the chart.

There are three albums that have 12 weeks service on the top 50 chart this week: the aforementioned Clues record at #2, Japandroids' Post-Nothing at #27 (a re-entry) and Dog Day's Concentration, which rises seven places to #34.

Over the years, one of the five specialty charts has been prone to more volatility: the Jazz/Blues top 10. On a number of occasions, albums have debuted at #1, more than the other four specialty charts combined.

It's happened again this week as Robyn Hayle's independently-released album, Arms Full Of Roses, arrives at #1. This top 10 chart also features two older albums re-entering. The #8 title, Amanda Tosoff's Wait And See, last appeared here during the week of March 1, while #10 album, Alexis Baro's From The Other Side hasn't charted since April 26.

Aside from Mos Def's The Ecstatic holding down the #1 position on the Hip Hop top 10, the other three charts have different #1s from last week.

Sunn O)))'s Monoliths & Dimensions rises two places to head the Metal/Punk chart. Novalima's Coba Coba Remixed pulls off the same feat, jumping two spots to #1 on the World/Folk chart.

Finally, Tiga's Ciao! recaptures #1 on the Electronic top 10, a position it held two weeks ago. Ciao! does have some future competition for the crown here, as Clark's Totems Flare debuts right behind it at #2.