Album Sweep: December 28, 2013...

I'm ready with my weekly "album sweep" sampling the records making their first appearance on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums chart. As always, I've included links to buy anything if possible, but please, give an independent record store some Christmas cheer...(since there's only 14 debut, I'll keep it in one post this week)...

The top-selling album of the week by far is the "stealth" release by R&B singer Beyonce of her self-titled fifth studio album, selling over six hundred thousand copies exclusively on iTunes. All five of her albums have topped the album chart, the last being 4 in 2011. Amazon started offering it digitally on Friday, but many retailers, including Target, refuse to sell it in protest of the deal with iTunes...

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R. Kelly returns at #4 with his twelfth studio set Black Panties, selling over a hundred thousand in its first week.  Kelly has six #1 albums to his name, with Double Up his most recent in 2007...

Actor Donald Glover's alter ego, rapper Childish Gambino, enters at #7 with his second set Because The Internet...

Country jam stars The Zac Brown Band are in at #25 with The Grohl Sessions: Vol. 1 EP, a four-song iTunes exclusive. It's their second EP to make the chart - in 2009 their Live From Bonaroo went to #95...

Veteran rocker Neil Young is back at #28 with Live At The Cellar Door. It's his thirteenth live set to make the chart - in 2007 he made it to #6 with Live At Massey Hall 1971...This release compiles live takes from six shows in 1970...

The album album released from the TV musical drama Nashville, titled The Music Of Nashville: Season 2, Vol. 1, enters at #34. Both of the season 1 volumes made the top 20 with volume 2 reaching #13...

 The soundtrack to the biggest movie of the week, The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, lands at #39. It has score music from Howard Shore and features singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran on one track. A year ago The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey peaked at #30...

Country newcomers Parmalee debut at #46 with their first set Feels Like Carolina, named for their #1 hit...

Clyde Bawden and Jason Barney enter at #63 with the holiday title Glenn Beck Presents: Believe Again...

Last year rapper E-40 released three volumes of The Block Brochure: Welcome To The Soil on the same day, with all three reaching the chart at volume two doing the best at #58. Now he's back with three more sets which all make the chart. First at #136 is Welcome To The Soil 4....

E-40's Welcome To The Soil 5 enters at #140....

and finally Welcome To The Soil 6 arrives at #151...

 British singer Ellie Goulding's exclusive iTunes Session six-song EP comes in at #190..

The final entry of the week is a holiday collection from Neil Diamond, as The Classic Christmas Album sleighs in at #193. His first Christmas Album made it to #8 in 1992...

 That does it for this week's new crop...out of these fourteen releases the three I'd go with first are the Beyonce, The Hobbit, and the Parmalee sets....