Carrie’s “Carnival Ride” Takes A Plunge, While Plant And Krauss Hold On

By now, you all know about the tussle between the Eagles and Britney at the top of the charts this week–and the universe would fall in on itself if all the photos at the top of Idolator were of Don Henley and Company–so let’s talk about last week’s top two country debuts. First, there’s Carrie Underwood, whose Carnival Ride saw a pretty steep drop in its second week on the charts. The album’s sales figures tumbled 68%, from 527,000 to 170,000, although that only resulted in a two-space chart drop. And then there’s the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand, which, sure, had a shorter perch from which to fall, but its 28% drop (it fell from No. 2 to No. 6, beating out the Backstreet Boys) seems pretty impressive to me, given the second-week swan dives that have become commonplace on the charts this year. (It’s hard not to wonder how many classic-rock diehards bought the Eagles/Plant-Krauss as a twofer last week.)

Biggest Debuts: Behind the Eagles and Britney came Avenged Sevenfold’s self-titled album, which entered at No. 4; country singer Josh Turner’s Everything Is Fine, which came in at No. 5; the Backstreet Boys’ Unbreakable, which couldn’t break the six-figure mark and landed at No. 7; and a best-of from Oprah favorite Andrea Bocelli, which came in at No. 9.

But there were also two semi-debuts that I noticed way down the chart, thanks to the rule-finagling that allowed the Eagles to get in: the mega-God-complex known as the Lakewood Church had its album Free To Worship, which is available at its Web site and at Wal-Mart, enter the chart at No. 131 (on a 22% drop); former American Idol contestant Bo Bice entered the chart at No. 150 with his album See The Light, which is also only available at Wal-Mart and online. (It debuted in the top 100 on the Comprehensive Albums chart last week, its first week on Wal-Mart’s racks.) Just think: Even with God (maybe) on one (or both!) of their sides, neither of those artists’ managers had the chart-altering power of Eagles heavy Irving Azoff!

Notable Jumps: The Jonas Brothers’ self-titled album hopped up from No. 44 to No. 20 on a 90% increase in sales. While one could chalk a large part of this gain up to their opening-act slot on the Hannah Montana tour, it’s also worth noting that the band’s current single, the sprightly “S.O.S.,” has started making the teensiest of inroads at pop radio (I heard it on New York’s top-40 heavy Z100 over the weekend).

Dropping Off: Last week’s other debuts did not fare as well as Underwood, Plant, and Krauss; cowboy Gary Allan plunged from No. 3 to No. 23, agitato Serj Tankian from No. 4 to No. 24, and groany-moaners Seether from No. 9 to No. 22. And poor Coheed and Cambria, after debuting at No. 6 last week, fell all the way down to No. 44. Guess everyone who bought that album had a very important D&D game to get back to.

Nickelback Award For Inexplicable Durability: Kid Rock, how can I learn to like you again if you won’t go away? OK, it’ll probably never happen, fine. That said, I continue to be amazed by the staying power of Rock N’ Roll Jesus, which slips from No. 7 to No. 12, thanks in part to the six debuts crowding the top of the chart. I mean… doesn’t this routine seem just a smidge cartoonish by now? Is that the appeal? Or do people actually want to be this dude, possibility of disease and all?

The top 20, with sales totals in parentheses: 1. Eagles, Long Road Out Of Eden (711,000) 2. Britney Spears, Blackout (290,000) 3. Carrie Underwood, Carnival Ride (170,000) 4. Avenged Sevenfold (94,000) 5. Josh Turner, Everything Is Fine (84,000) 6. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Raising Sand (81,000) 7. Backstreet Boys, Unbreakable (81,000) 8. Josh Groban, Noel (76,000) 9. Andrea Bocelli, The Best Of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere (67,000) 10. Rascal Flatts, Still Feels Good (53,000) 11. High School Musical 2 soundtrack (51,000) 12. Kid Rock, Rock N’ Roll Jesus (49,000) 13. Colbie Caillat, Coco (43,000) 14. Bruce Springsteen, Magic (42,000) 15. Reba McEntire, Reba Duets (39,000) 16. Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (37,000) 17. Kanye West, Graduation (35,000) 18. Keyshia Cole, Just Like You (35,000) 19. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, souljaboytellem.com (34,000) 20. Jonas Brothers (33,000)