Album Sweep: May 3, 2014 - Part One....

Hey gang, I'm ready to start the first half of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their first appearance on this week's Top 200 Albums sales chart in Billboard magazine. As always, I've included highlighted links to buy anything you see....support the artists! (But if you can, make yourself down to an indie record store, you get twice the good karma!)

Even though the weather has finally gotten warmer, the soundtrack to Disney's Frozen just won't quit, and with the release of the DVD and Easter has its biggest week ever selling over a quarter of a million copies in its eleventh non-consecutive week at #1...

 Selling just about a quarter of what Frozen did is the album at #2, Testimony from August Alsina. The New Orleans native had an EP out last year, but this is the first full-length that includes his wildly popular "I Luv This Shit" single from last year...

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Christian alternative-rock band Needtobreathe score their second top-10 album and highest rank as Rivers In The Wasteland enters at #3...

Pop/R&B singer and songwriter Jason Derulo lands a #4 with his third studio album Talk Dirty. It's his first to make the top ten...

Indie-pop chanteuse Ingrid Michaelson puts her second consecutive album at #5 on the chart (after Human Again in 2010) with her latest, Lights Out...

As Frozen reigns, the new Disney Karaoke Series: Frozen leaps in at #17. It's the biggest of this type of record that I can remember...

Alternative metal band Sevendust return at #19 with their tenth studio album Time Travelers & Bonfires. All but one of those has made the top-40, and all but one of those has reached the top-20, with 2010's Cold Day's Memory peaking at #12...

Electronica-rock act Breathe Carolina nab their first top-40 album with Savages at #22...

Country-pop singer Jessie James added "Decker" to her recording name after marrying Jets' wide receiver Eric Decker, and her new EP Comin' Home arrives at #28. Her Jessie James full-length came in at #23 in 2009...

Alternative rock veterans the Afghan Whigs return after sixteen years at #32 with Do To The Beast. It's their first to make the top-40 on the albums list...

The Starbucks exclusive Arrivederci Italy, featuring tracks from the likes of Connie Francis, Sergio Franchi, and Pink Martini, comes in at #52...

Rapper Dizzy Wright has his first album make the Top 200 as his EP State Of Mind is in at #54...

Deathcore band Emmure bring their sixth full-length album Eternal Enemies in at #57, their best as yet...

Alt-rock heroes Aimee Mann and Ted Leo come together as The Both on the act's self-titled debut at #59...

Texan alt-country act the Randy Rogers Band see their concert record Homemade Tamales - Live At Floores enter at #70. Their studio album Burning The Day went to #8 in 2010...

Christian rapper Da T.R.U.T.H. ascends to #84 with his biggest set to date, Heartbeat...

That's it for the first half of the new crop...out of these 15 the four I would recommend first are the Sevendust, Ingrid Michaelson, The Both, and Jason Derulo albums....

I'll return tomorrow with part two!