Album Sweep: April 12, 2014 - Part One...

Hey gang, it's time to kick off the first half of this week's 'album sweep', sampling the records making their debut on the Top 200 Albums sales chart in Billboard magazine, which tracks sales of both digital and physical copies across the country. As usual, I've included highlighted links to buy everything here plus some of the artist' other work when possible...

The top-selling album remains the soundtrack to Frozen for an eighth non-consecutive week, selling over 161,000 copies, almost double that of the #2 record.

That #2 album is the self-titled tenth studio set from Colombian singer/songwriter Shakira. It's her fourth mostly English-language release, and fifth top-10 album and highest-ranked overall...

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Country icon Johnny Cash has his fourth top-10 album since his death in 2003 with Out Among The Stars at #3. Cash has topped the Top 200 twice with At San Quentin in 1969 and American V: A Hundred Highways in 2006...

Dallas-based metalcore band Memphis May Fire burn in at #4 with their fourth album and first top-tenner, Unconditional....

Erica Campbell, one-half of the gospel act Mary Mary, comes in at #6 with her first solo album Help. With her duo she had three consecutive top-10 albums...

Barry Manilow lands his fourteenth top-ten album with his latest, Night Songs at #8. He's been to the top twice, with Barry Manilow Live in 1977 and The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties in 2006. The arrangements on this record are stripped down to just a piano and a bass, and even the promotion is stripped down, with no video clip to speak of, official or non-.....

As the modern rock juggernaut My Chemical Romance calls it quits after a dozen years, their May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 enters at #9. It becomes their third top-ten effort - their Black Parade peaked at #2 in 2006. It contains all of their top-ten alternative rock chart hits...

Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Kari Jobe ascends to #12 with her live album Majestic. Two years ago she made the top-10 with Where I Find You...

Jerrod Niemann, a country singer from Kansas, takes his third major-label release High Noon to #18 on the big chart. In 2010 he went to #7 with Judge Jerrod & The Hung Jury...

I've long since gotten off the Gleetrain, but nevertheless the juggernaut sputters on, and the Glee: The Music: Celebrating 100 Episodes, with the season 5 cast revisiting older covers and new stuff, arrives at #22. All 16 of the cast's full-length regular releases have made the top-40...

Animals As Leaders, a progressive metal band from Washington DC, jump in at #23 with The Joy Of Motion, their third album...

Christian adult pop singer Michael W Smith brings his Hymns album for the Cracker Barrel restaurant/store chain to #25. It's his tenth album to make the top-40; in 2004 he took Healing Rain to #11...

The Hold Steady come in at #28 with their sixth album Teeth Dreams. It's their third consecutive top-40 record - their last, Heaven Is Whenever, went to #26 in 2010...

Swag-pop duo Karmin debut at #32 with their first full-length album Pulses. In 2012 their EP Hello popped in at #18...

Maryland-based synthpop group Future Islands have their first hit as Singles enters the chart at #40...

Christian hip-hop artist Christon Gray debuts at #44 with School Of Roses...

Rapper Sage The Gemini drops in at #47 with his first full-length, Remember Me...

Seattle rapper Grieves lands at #57 with his fourth full-length, Winter & Wolves. It's his first to make the top half of the chart...

That's all for the first half of the new bunch...Out of these 17 the three I would go for first are the Johnny Cash, Karmin, and Animals As Leaders sets...

I'll return tomorrow with part two....