Who Charted?: Fall Out Boy Wins Its Arms Race Against Norah Jones

Pete Wentz may have a reason to smile. Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, narrowly inching out Norah Jones’ Not Too Late for the top spot. Infinity sold 260,000 copies to Late‘s 236,000; odds are that next week, Jones will reclaim the top spot, thanks to a weak release schedule this week and frantic last-minute Valentine’s Day gift buying.

Biggest Debuts: High School Musical continued to hold its power over the purse-strings of tween parents; alum Ashley Tisdale’s first solo album, Headstrong, entered the chart at No. 5, selling 64,000 copies. Jason Michael Carroll, a North Carolina country crooner, debuted at No. 8, selling 58,000 copies, and spiky Brits Bloc Party sold 48,000 copies of their second album, A Weekend In The City, to come in at No. 12 for the week.

Biggest Slides: Katharine McPhee, Celtic Woman, Pretty Ricky, and The Shins all dropped out of the top 10. The American Idol runner-up fell from No. 2 to No. 11, the PBS darlings swooned from No. 4 to No. 18, the sex-obsessed Miami quartet dipped to No. 13 (from No. 5), and Zach Braff’s favorite band fell to No. 20 (from No. 8).

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Daughtry–again!–hung tough at No. 3, experiencing a mere 1% sales dip for the week. Hey, if he keeps it up, maybe the Associated Press’ photo editors will remember his last name someday.

‘Infinity On’ Top: Fall Out Boy Debuts at No. 1 [Billboard.biz]