Album Sweep: March 2, 2013...

Hey gang, it's time for this week's "album sweep", sampling the new records spending their first week on the Top 200 albums chart in Billboard magazine, and because of the tracking week being post-Grammy week, there are so few big releases that only ten new albums made the whole chart, so I'll take care of it in one foul swoop. Like always I've included links to buy anything you see at Amazon, but if you can, stop by a record store - they'll love you for it!

The top-selling album of the week is the Grammy winner for Album of the Year, Mumford & Sons' Babel, which sells more than a 185 thousand this week (well below what Adele did last year, though...)...

The top debut of the week, down at #13, is the fourth full-length album from Welsh heavy-metal band Bullet For My Valentine, Temper Temper. It follows two consecutive top-5 albums, with their last, Fever, reaching #3 in 2010...(NSFW)

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Coming in at #31 is contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp, with Reckless, his ninth studio album, and the fourth to reach the top-40 on the main albums chart. Three years ago, his We Cry Out: The Worship Project peaked at #15...

The second album tied to the NBC musical drama Smash arrives at #43 this week. SMASH: Bombshell presents the musical the cast is working on as a cohesive unit, and features guests like Bernadette Peters, Uma Thurmann, and Jennifer Hudson...

The high-energy compilation Ultra Dance 14 jumps into the chart at #58. It features hits by Calvin Harris, The Wanted, Kaskade, deadmau5, and more...

English indie-rock group Foals score their first US chart album at #86 with their third release, Holy Fire, which already went to #2 in the UK and topped the Australian album charts (deservedly)...they remind me a lot of early INXS' mesh of rock and funkiness...

Alt-country act Connor Christian and Southern Gothic enter at #127 with New Hometown...

 The soundtrack to the Julianne Hough/Josh Dushamel film Safe Haven, which opened on Valentine's Day, enters at #133. It has selections from Colbie Caillat with Gavin DeGraw, Amos Lee, and Tristan Prettyman...

The Archive, an iTunes exclusive EP by Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons, comes in at #134. Their debut full-length album, Night Visions, made it to #2 last year...

Another Christian music compilation, Love Never Fails, arrives at #173, and features cuts from Brandon Heath, Casting Crowns, and Third Day, among others...

The soundtrack to the coming-of-age movie The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, featuring Harry Potter's Hermione Emma Watson, debuts at #194 on the release of the DVD. It features classics from New Order, the Smiths, and Dexy's Midnight Runners...

That's it for this week - out of these ten the three I would go for first are the Foals, Perks Of Being A Wallflower, and Smash sets.....

I'll return later today to wrap the weekend up with the latest from the UK....