Album Sweep: March 15, 2014 - Part One...

It's time to rev up part one of this week's "album sweeps", sampling the records making their first appearance on the Top 200 Albums sales chart in Billboard magazine this week. As always, I've included highlighted links to buy anything you see that you like - support the artists!

The top-selling album of the week is the major-label debut for rapper Schoolboy Q with Oxymoron. He had two independent digital releases that made the bottom half of the chart before, but this one sold over 139,000 copies in it's first week...

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Modern rock troubadour Beck returns with his first studio album in six years as Morning Phase comes in at #3. It's his fifth top-ten effort - he's only gone higher with Guero which went to #2 in 2005...

Rapper Kid Cudi is back at #4 with his fourth full-length release Satellite Flight: Journey To Mother Moon. All four have made the top-5, with his last, Indicud, reaching #2 last year...

Romeo Santos, former lead singer of the bachata music group Aventura, lands at #5 with Formula, Vol. 2. The first volume went to #9 in 2011..

Country singer Dierks Bentley scores his seventh top-10 album on the big chart with Riser at #6. In 2009 he peaked at #3 with Feel That Fire...

Pop/rock group the Fray drop in at #8 with their fourth regular release, Helios. Their self-titled second album topped the chart in 2009...

Alternative rock singer St. Vincent ascends to #12 with her self-titled fourth full-length studio album, making her highest rank as yet. She was once part of the eclectic group the Polyphonic Spree...

Gospel artist James Fortune and his group FIYA land at #13 with Live Through It. In 2012 his Identity peaked at #7....

Another Christian act, Bethel Music, arrives at #28 with Tides Live. It's their first to make the top-40 on the albums chart..

That's it for this half - out of these nine the two I would choose first are the St. Vincent and Dierks Bentley albums...

I'll be back tomorrow with the second half....