Album Sweep: May 10, 2014 - Part One...

It's time for the first half of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their first appearance on the Top 200 Albums chart in Billboard magazine this week. As always, I've included links to buy anything here if available, but please get yourself to an indie record store if you can...

The top-selling album for a twelfth week is the soundtrack to Frozen, shifting over a hundred thousand copies more, over twice as much as the #2 record...

That album in the runner-up spot is rapper Future, with his second full-length record and highest position yet with Honest...

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Australian hip-hop ingenue Iggy Azalea debuts at #3 with her first album The New Classic....

Modern rock band Neon Trees, featuring just-out lead singer Tyler Glenn, claim their first top-10 album with their third effort Pop Psychology at #6...

Also enjoying their first top-ten album at #8  is the cast of the musical drama Nashville with Nashville: On The Record, which was all recorded live. The show has already placed three collections from the series in the top-40...

The Pentacostal Christian collective Bethel Music comes in at #10 with You Make Me Brave: Live At the Civic...

Contemporary Christian singer Francesca Battistelli lands at #13 with If We're Honest. It's her second of three to make the top-20 and highest she's been yet...

Meanwhile, another religious act, Dietrick Haddon's LXW (League of Extraordinary Worshippers) enters at #21 with their self-titled album....

Bruce Springsteen has his second charting EP as his contribution to Record Store Day 2014, American Beauty, comes in at #31. Unlike the usual vinyl-only rarities, the Boss thankfully was democratic and is offering the set on MP3..


Another extended play set, From Here To Now To You Live from surf-rocker Jack Johnson, swims in at #35. It's namesake full-length studio album topped the chart in September of last year. This Earth Day benefit is an iTunes exclusive...

 Asher Roth, a rapper from just over the river from me in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, arrives at #45 with his second full-length set Retrohash. His debut, Asleep In The Bread Aisle, went up to #5 in 2009...

Another act from my area, veteran alt-hiphop/rock group G. Love and Special Sauce, return at #49 with Sugar. It's their highest album to date in a career that dates back to the early 90s...

The Menzingers, a punk band from Scranton, PA, drop in at #50 with their fourth effort Rented World.

That's it for the first half of the new crop. Out of this dozen the three I would choose first are the Neon Trees, G Love and Special Sauce, and Menzingers sets...

I'll return tomorrow with the second half...