Bob Dylan Back On Top

Once again, Bob Dylan is back at the top of the charts. Dylan's new album, Modern Times, reached the No.1 spot on the album sales chart, selling 192,000 copies of the album in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures.

Dylan's Modern Times is his first album to top the charts since his 1976 offering, Desire. With the success of Modern Times, Dylan has become the oldest living person to debut a new album at #1. Bob Dylan went to #1 in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, according to Columbia records. The Times Online quoted Columbia Records chairman Steve Barnett as saying "We couldn't be more thrilled that fans have responded to it so enthusiastically by putting Bob at No. 1, which is where he belongs."

Reuters reports that "Dylan's previous album, 2001's 'Love & Theft' opened at No. 5 with 133,760 copies. Before that, he peaked at No. 10 with 1997's 'Time Out of Mind,' which opened with 101,600 units. Aside from 'Desire' and 'Modern Times,' only two other Dylan albums assumed the plateau on the chart: 1974's 'Planet Waves' and 1975's 'Blood on the Tracks.'"

Bob Dylan faced some tough opposition on the charts this week. Coming in at #2 was last week's top seller, Danity Kane. The MTV girl-band sold 117,000 units, taking a 50% sales hit. #3 on the top-selling album list was Young Dro's major label debut, Best Thang Smokin'. Young Dro sold 104,000 copies of his album with help from his big hit, "Shoulder Lean (feat. T.I.).

Christina Aguilera kept in the top five with her new album, Back to Basics. Back to Basics sold 101,000 copies to land at #4, just ahead of Jessica Simpson. Simpson's post-Nick Lachey divorce album, A Public Affair, sold just less than 101,000 copies in its debut week, seeing it land at #5 on the charts.

The #6 spot on the charts belongs to "The Cheetah Girls 2" soundtrack, which slipped from #5 to #6 with 80,000 units sold. OutKast kept itself in the top ten, though they slid to the #7 spot after selling a modest 78,000 copies of their album, Idlewild. Rounding out the top ten is Method Man at #8 (4:21…The Day After, 62,000 copies), the Roots (Game Theory, 61,000) and, in a surprise, Nickelback. In its 48th week on the chart, the Canadian rock group Nickelback saw their album All the Right Reasons move up two spots from its #12 position to grab another top ten finish.

This week saw 9.39 million units sold, which marks a 1.5% drop from last week, and, more importantly to record companies, sees a 10% drop over the same week last year.

Bob Dylan, the folk-rock pioneer whose protest songs were anthemic in the 60s and 70s, produced such great hits as "The Hurricane", "They Times, They Are a-Changin'", "Like a Rolling Stone", "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Lay Lady Lay", and "Blowin' in the Wind". Dylan's life is set to be the topic of a biopic film, with Cate Blanchett being one of six actors to play Dylan.

[Sources: Times Online, Reuters]