Album Sweep: December 15, 2012...

Hey gang, it's time for this week's "album sweep" of the latest records spending their first week on the Top 200 albums chart in Billboard magazine. Since there's only ten of these, I'm gonna bring them to you in one helping, then tomorrow I'll go over the Grammy nominations. As usual, I've included links to buy anything you see if available online...

There's only one "big" debut this week, and appropriately it comes in right at the top. Alicia Keys has the biggest seller of the week with her fifth studio album, Girl On Fire, which sold over 150,000 copies last week. Keys is one of the biggest draws in music today - all of her studio sets went to #1 except her last one (which still made it to #2 and sold more than GOF did). Even her Unplugged set topped the chart in 2005.

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The next highest entry at #29 is by pop duo and YouTube stars Timeflies with their EP One Night. They have cultivated a big following covering current pop songs, and it pays off with their second set of originals...

The Fourth season of Glee is decidedly disjointed in both its plot and musical focus, and it's translated so far in relative lackluster sales of the songs from the show, so it's surprised that they've finally released Glee: The Music: Season 4: Volume 1. Out of the 13 songs on the CD (16 on the deluxe version), only two have made the lower reaches of the Hot 100: their covers of Imagine Dragons' "It's Time" and Coldplay's "The Scientist". The set does manage to come in at #33, by far the lowest of their "regular" releases. The show in its history has topped the albums chart once with a full-length CD (Volume 3), and twice with EPs from their Madonna tribute and from season one's regionals...

In time for World AIDS Day, the benefit album Dance (RED) Saves Lives: Presented by Tiesto enters at #56. The DJ, born Tijgs Verwest in the Netherlands near the Belgian border, has been working with AIDS foundations since 2006, and mixed 22 songs on here (only available on iTunes) from U2, Martin Solveig, Afrojack, and more...

Rappers Ghostface Killah (from the Wu-Tang Clan) and Sheek Louch (from the LOX) come together for a collaboration called Wu-Block at #90. The former has racked up four top-10 albums in his own name, while Sheek's debut did the trick as well in 2003...(NSFW)

 The soundtrack to the final Twilight movie debuted at #3 a couple weeks ago, and now The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2: The Score swoops in at #91. It's composed by Carter Burwell, who has done most of the Coen Brothers' movies...

The Temptations see their The Best of the Temptations Christmas compilation spend its first week on the big chart at #155, thanks to a big sale at Amazon who's offering it for $2.99...

Beyonce's kid sister Solange is at #157 with her third album, True. It follows 2009's under-rated Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams, which made it to #9...

Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman's fourth holiday album, JOY, arrives at #185.

The final debut at #196 is New Jersey's own Bon Jovi with their live iTunes exclusive Inside Out, which was recorded during their 2010 tour at the London and New York stops....

That does it for this week...out of these ten the three I would recommend the most are the Alicia Keys, Timeflies, and Solange sets (with Bon Jovi teetering close)...

I'll be back later with the latest in Britain..