Album Sweep: April 11, 2015 - Part One...

I'm ready to kick off the first half of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their debut on the Top Album Sales chart in Billboard magazine. As usual, I've included highlighted links to buy any of the new sets, along with some of the artists' other major work. Support the talent!

On the chart, Kendrick Lamar spends a second week at #1 with To Pimp A Butterfly, selling over 100,000 copies in its second week....

The top debut of the week at #3 is the first full-length chart album for Brooklyn rapper Action Bronson (he had an EP make the list in 2013), Mr. Wonderful....

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The 28th volume in the Kidz Bop franchise lands at #4. Since volume 7 in 2005 all their released but one have made the top-10...

Rapper and Odd Future collective member Earl Sweatshirt comes in at #7 with his second solo full-length effort I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside an Album by Earl Sweatshirt. His first, Doris, went to #5 in 2013...

Australian indie-rock singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett debuts at #10 with her first album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. The record went to #4 in her home country...

Irish rock legend Van Morrison is back at #11 with his Duets: Re-Working The Catalogue. He's had only two of his releases go higher; both Keep It Simple in 2008 and Born To Sing: No Plan B in 2012 made it to #10...

British singer/songwriter James Bay arrives at #12 with his first full-length record Chaos and the Calm, a #1 album in his homeland...

Blues-rock veteran Joe Bonamassa is back at #21 with the live set  Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks. It's his fifth concert release to make the chart and the highest placing of them. He went to #8 with his last studio album Different Shades Of Blue in 2014...

As the new hit musical drama Empire goes on hiatus, it's only fitting that Nashville: On The Record, Volume 2 moves in at #22. The first On The Record volume went to #8 last year...

Openly gay country crossover singer-songwriter Steve Grand sees his Kickstarter-aided first album All American Boy come in at #27...

 The soundtrack to the animated movie Home arrives at #31. It features three songs from Rihanna, who voices the main character Tip...

 The Walmart exclusive Official 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards Zinepak magazine/CD combo enters at #33. The 10-buck special has two CD with 27 songs total from artists like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, and more...

That's all for the first half of the new bunch...out of these eleven the four to get first are the James Bay, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Grand, and Courtney Barnett sets...

I'll be back tomorrow with part two...