NOW THAT’S WHAT WE CALL
AN ALBUM CHART

Sony Music Group’s Now 22 breathes some life into the summer chart this week with a #1 debut and 388k in sales, which tops the 334k first-week total of UTV’s Now 21 last April.

This edition includes recent hits like Rihanna’s “S.O.S.,” Sean Paul’s “Temperature,” Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’,” T-Pain’s “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper),” Three 6 Mafia’s “Poppin’ My Collar,” Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day,” KT Tunstall’s “Black Horse & the Cherry Tree” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Walk Away,” among others.

Asylum/Rap-A-Lot Lone Star hip-hopper Pimp C nails the second spot with a total of 90k, as Radiohead leader Thom Yorke’s solo bow The Eraser on XL Recordings through ADA, debuts at #3, selling 85k.

WB’s Muse was the other Top 10 newcomer, landing at #7 with 49k in sales. The rest of the Top 10 includes Geffen’s Nelly Furtado (#4), Downtown/Atlantic’s Gnarls Barkley (#5), Lyric Street’s Rascal Flatts (#6), Disney’s High School Musical (#8), Def Jam/IDJ’s Rihanna (#9) and last week’s #1, Lost Highway/IDJ’s Johnny Cash American V album (#10).

Epic’s MTV teen reality star Cheyenne Kimball (#16), Koch rapper JR Writer (#22) and Sanctuary/Drive-Thru emo-rockers Early November (#28) are the other three chart debuts.

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean is the biggest gainer of the week, taking off from the movie’s blockbuster success to move #24-19, with a 24% increase in sales. Universal Republic rockers Hinder are next (#43-33, +23%), followed by A&M Interscope’s Pussycat Dolls (#18-12, +20%), Capitol’s surging Corinne Bailey Rae (#20-18, +14%), Curb’s Tim McGraw (#31, +13%) and Maverick/WB’s Wreckers (#40-35, +13%).

Next week, look for Epic’s Los Lonely Boys to crack the Top 50 with the follow-up album to their 2004 multi-platinum debut. Also hitting the street will be new releases from New Door’s Alien Ant Farm, Elektra’s Third Eye Blind and Epic’s Eighteen Visions.