Album Sweep: November 23, 2013 - Part One...

I'm ready to kick off the first half of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their first appearance on the Top 200 Albums sales chart in Billboard magazine. As usual, I've included links to buy anything if possible, but if you can, try to make your way to an indie record store if you can...

The top-selling album of the week and the second-largest opening sales week of the year belongs to rapper Eminem, who pushes almost eight hundred thousand copies of his Marshall Mathers 2 album. It's his eighth album to reach the top, which is every one of his releases (including soundtracks and greatest hits) except his debut The Slim Shady LP, which came in at #2...

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Arriving at #2 is recent Vegas mainstay Celine Dion, with her eleventh English-langauge album Loved Me Back To Life. She's been to #1 on the albums chart four times, the most recent being A New Day Has Come in 2002...

Fellow Canadian Avril Lavigne also returns to the chart, as her self-titled fifth studio album comes in at #5. She had topped the chart with both Under My Skin in 2004 and The Best Damn Thing in 2007..

A Cappella wonders and winners of the Sing-Off Pentatonix land at #10 with PTX: Vol II. They went to #14 with volume 1 last year...

British "boyband" the Wanted take their second American release and first official full-length Word Of Mouth to #17. Their Wanted EP, which combined material from their first two UK albums, went to #7 in 2012...

British pop-opera quartet Il Divo enter at #19 with A Musical Affair: The Greatest Songs From The World's Favourite Musicals. The group topped the chart here in 2005 with their sophomore effort Ancora. This is their first studio album to miss the top-10, though...

English singer/songwriter James Blunt comes in at #20 with his fourth album Moon Landing. In 2004 his debut Back To Bedlam reached #2...

Christian hip hop artist Lecrae lands at #21 with Church Clothes, Vol. 2, his second "mixtape". His last studio album, Gravity, came in at #3 last year...

Sri Lankan-British rapper M.I.A. is back at #23 with her fourth album Matangi. Her last album Maya was her first top ten at #9 in 2010..

Newcomer Jake Miller takes her first full-length hip hop album Us Against Them at #26...

William McDowell ascends to #28 with Withholding Nothing: Live Worship Album and Concert Film...

"Horrorcore" rap master Tech N9ne comes in at #32 with Therapy: Sessions With Ross Robinson, his ninth EP of nine songs. It's his third EP to reach the top 40; his last full-length Something Else went to #4 this past summer...

Veteran Christian metal band Stryper was a favorite of mine back in the 80s, and they are back at #35 with No More Hell To Pay. It's their fourth top 40 album - they went to #32 with To Hell With The Devil in 1986 and In God We Trust in 1988...

A singer who was probably influenced by Stryper, Scott Stapp from Creed, arrives at #37 with his second solo album Proof Of Life. His first, The Great Divide, came in at #19 in 2005..

Eternally charting rock legends the Jimi Hendrix Experience pop in at #39 with Miami Pop Festival.

That's it for the first half of the new crop...out of these the three I'd recommend first are the Pentatonix, James Blunt, and the Wanted...

I'll return tomorrow with more Glee, more Christmas stuff, and more more more...