Album Sweep: February 1, 2014 - Part One...

It's time again for another "album sweep", sampling the records spending their first week on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums chart. After a few weeks of holiday and post-holiday blahs, the regular release schedule is getting back in swing again, with 19 debuts, so I'll split it between today and tomorrow....(I've included links to buy anything if possible)...

The top-selling album of the week is by "The Boss", Bruce Springsteen, with his eighteenth studio album High Hopes. Selling just under a hundred thousand copies, it becomes his eleventh release (including a live box set and a greatest hits collection) to go to #1. He first topped the albums chart in 1980 with his fifth set The River...

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Kidz Bop 25 arrives on the chart at #3. It's the 18th volume of the series to make the top-10, with volumes 9, 19, 20, 21, and 23 hitting the runner-up spot. This new one has family-friendly covers of songs by Zedd, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, and more...



Jennifer Netlles, one-half of the country duo Sugarland, puts her first solo album That Girl in at #5. She's been to #1 twice with partner Kristian Bush, the latest being The Incredible Machine in 2010..

Alt-rock (and sometimes spiritual) band Switchfoot come in at #6 with their ninth studio album Fading West. It's their third to make the top-ten; in 2005 they made it to #3 with Nothing Is Sound...

Country singer Rosanne Cash makes a welcome return at #11 with The River and the Thread. It's her first studio effort in five years, and her highest-charting set to date....

Newcomer Jon Pardi puts his debut country album Write You A Song in at #14...

Veteran soul singer Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings enter at #22 with Give The People What They Want. Their last set, I Learned The Hard Way, went to #15 in 2010...

Elevation Worship, a Christian music collective from Charlotte, North Carolina, ascend to #23 with Only King Forever. It's their first to make the "big" chart...

Country singer Cody Johnson debuts at #33 with his first set Cowboy Like Me....


That's it for the first half of the bunch...out of these nine, the three I would go for first are the Jennifer Nettles, Rosanne Cash, and Sharon Jones sets (hard decisions....)

I'll return tomorrow with the second part with new stuff from the winners of the Sing-Off, a re-released indie-country classic, returns for iconic electronic and modern rock acts, and more.