“High School Musical” The Lone Bright Spot On A Bleak Chart

The High School Musical 2 soundtrack held on to the No. 1 slot on this week’s album-sales charts, dipping 22% to 165,000 units sold; the album was not only the sole record to sell more than 100,000 copies in the last week, it was also the only album to break the 50,000 mark. And to make matters even more frightening, the No. 2 album was Fergie’s The Dutchess, which was off 4% and sold 49,000 copies. Eep!

Biggest Debuts: Chiodos’ Bone Palace Ballet entered at No. 5, selling 39,000 copies; the next debut, Every Time I Die’s Big Dirty, was way further down the chart, at No. 41.

Notable Jumps: The Justin Timberlake show on HBO may not have been a favorite of Jess’, but it did apparently inspire a few people to pick up FutureSex/LoveSounds; the album had a 38% sales bump last week, enough to move it up to No. 12. Also, Colbie Caillat’s Coco, which topped the digital sales chart with 12,000 e-copies sold, had a 27% sales boost and jumped from No. 29 to No. 14.

Dropping Off: Yung Joc’s Hustlenomics took a 60% sales hit, but thanks to the lousy sales week, he only dropped from No. 3 to No. 11.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: This week’s charts are so dismal that it’s hard to think of anyone–save the High School Musical crew–as “durable,” but let’s give it up for this category’s namesake, who, despite taking an 8% sales hit, fell up to No. 8 (from No. 10) this week.

The top 20, with estimated sales totals in parentheses: 1. High School Musical 2 soundtrack (165,000) 2. Fergie, The Dutchess (49,000) 3. Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (47,000) 4. Casting Crowns, The Altar and The Door (41,000) 5. Chiodos, Bone Palace Ballet (39,000) 6. Hairspray soundtrack (39,000) 7. Now 25 (38,000) 8. Nickelback, All The Right Reasons (36,000) 9. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black (29,000) 10. Linkin Park, MInutes To Midnight (28,000) 11. Yung Joc, Hustlenomics (28,000) 12. Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds (27,000) 13. Taylor Swift (26,000) 14. Colbie Caillat, Coco (25,000) 15. T.I., T.I. Vs. T.I.P. (25,000) 16. Jonas Brothers (24,000) 17. Maroon 5, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long (24,000) 18. Plies, The Real Testament (23,000) 19. High School Musical soundtrack (22,000) 20. Common, Finding Forever (21,000)