Album Sweep: October 27, 2012 - Part One...

Hey gang, it's time to kick off this week's "Album Sweep" where I sample the new records making their debut on this week's Top 200 Albums Chart in Billboard magazine.

For the third week in a row, British folk-rock kings Mumford & Sons are at #1 with Babel, the first to remain at #1 for first three weeks since Adele's 21 spent 10 consecutive weeks at #1 earlier this year, after its Grammy rush. They sold just under 100,000 copies this week.

There are 40 debuts on the chart, so here's the first twenty. I've included links on the title to purchase anything you like on Amazon MP3...

The surprising big debut this week is by rapper Macklemore and colleague Ryan Lewis, with their second full-length album, The Heist. This is the second hip-hop release this year to be involved in the gay-rights question to debut at #2. Earlier this year, newly out rapper/singer Frank Ocean's Channel Orange took the runner-up spot, and now The Heist, which contains the pro-marriage-equality track "Same Love", does the same (this time from an "ally's" perspective). It also heaps on the fun with the hilarious track "Thrift Shop", which is the first single..Born Ben Haggerty, he and Lewis are from the Seattle area, and have had a big underground following leading up to the release, and it's paid off in spades...(NSFW for the 'f' word on the first one)

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Coming in at #3 is the veteran glam-rock band Kiss, with their 20th studio album Monster. And as big as they were in the 70s, their highest-charting album was actually their last, 2009's Sonic Boom...

 Richard Baker, who records under the moniker MGK (or "Machine Gun Kelly"), enters at #4 with his first full length record, Lace Up. He had an EP out earlier this year called Half Naked and Almost Famous that made it to #46...(NSFW)

Arriving at #5 is the alt-rock group Coheed and Cambria from Nyack, New York. Named for two fictional planets, they score their fourth consecutive top-10 album with The Afterman: Ascension...and they sound like a metal version of Rush here...

Pop-punkers from Maryland All Time Low pop in at #6 with their fifth album Don't Panic. It's their third straight top-10 studio album...

Barbra Streisand debuts at #7 with a collection of previously unreleased songs, Release Me. She's had top ten albums in every decade since the 60s, which is an amazing feat that only Frank Sinatra has more top-10 albums than her. Nine of those have gone to #1, her last being Love Is The Answer in 2009...

British singer Ellie Goulding jumps in at #9 with her sophomore album Halcyon. Her debut, Lights, made it to #21 earlier this year (the title track is on the new set as well)...

If your're counting, this is the second week in a row that seven new albums entered the top-10. Wow.

Irish rock band the Script debut at #13 with their aptly titled third album, #3. Their last album, Science & Faith, reached #3 (ironic) two years ago...

Heavy metal group Between The Buried And Me hail from Raleigh, North Carolina, and they get their second top-40 album and highest chart position at #22 with The Parallax II: Future Sequence...

Tame Impala are a psychedelic rock band from the western Australian city of Perth, and their second full-lengrh effort becomes their first American hit at #34, Lonerism...

Coming in at #36 is the iTunes exclusive Live In Brooklyn by the biggest rap artist in the game, Jay-Z. He has an amazing string of nine consecutive #1 studio albums to his name, and this new set marks his opening of the Barclays center in Brooklyn, with wife Beyonce in for the ride..

Entering at #44 is the latest album by 80s heartthrob Rick Springfield, who had a #2 album thirty years ago with Success Hasn't Spoiled Me Yet. His new set, Songs For The End Of The World, sport four different available covers, all of which go animated when viewed with a smartphone app. Neato...

 Dallas-based Christian music outfit Gateway Worship get their fourth and highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 at #46 with Forever Yours...

Jakob Dylan's Wallflowers get their fifth album, Glad All Over, on to the chart at #48. Their breakthrough set Bringing Down The Horse went to #4 in 1996...

Well what's a week without a little deathcore metal, and Massachussetts-bred The Acacia Strain obliges at #51 with their latest, Death Is The Only Mortal. It's their highest charting set yet...

HipHop duo MellowHype are part of the Odd Future rap collective that Frank Ocean belongs, and their second charting album Numbers comes in at #54...

Singer-songwriter Alison Sudol, who performs under the moniker A Fine Frenzy, arrives at #62 with her third studio album Pines. Her last effort, Bomb In The Birdcage, made the top-40 of this chart in 2009...

Fort Lauderdale heavy metal outfit Nonpoint jump in at #63 with their third album to make the top half of the chart. It's the self-titled Nonpoint...

Another Massachussetts metalcore band, Converge, are in at #70 with All The Love We Leave Behind, their eighth studio set, and their biggest so far...

and 180 degress from that at #77 is the second CD released from the Nickelodeon kids' show The Fresh beat Band: More Music from the Hit TV Show: Vol 2.0.

Well that does it for this supersized half of the album sweep. Out of these 20 the three I would choose first are the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Ellie Goulding, and A Fine Frenzy sets.

I'll bring you the second half of the sweep on Monday afternoon, with new music from Jeff Lynne, The Black Keys, Vivian Green, and more. Cheers!