Album Sweep: May 24, 2014 - Part One...

Hey gang, it's time to roll out the first half of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their debut on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums sales chart this week. As always, I've included links to buy anything you see. Support the artists!

The top-selling album of the week is the 50th installment in the mutli-label artist compilations series Now That's What I Call Music!. All 50 have made the top-10, and the last volume Now 49 also topped the chart earlier this year. Combined with the fanfare for its 50th collection plus a special double-disc version that has highlights from the other 49 sets, this one sold over 150,000 copies in its first week. The main version has nine top-10 pop hits, with giant #1 singles "Happy", "Dark Horse", and "All Of Me" included...

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Pop-country singer/songwriter Hunter Hayes places his second album Storyline at #3 on the chart. It's his second to make the top-10 on the main chart, and highest rank so far...

Canadian songstress Sarah McLachlan returns at #4 with Shine. It's her fifth consecutive studio album to make the top-10; she went to #2 with both Surfacing in 1997 and Afterglow in 2003...

Horror-rapper Tech N9ne is back at #5 with his collaboration album Strangeulation. It's his third album to make the top-ten; his All 6's and 7's from 2011 and Something Else from last year both hit #4. All told he has an impressive twelve albums that have cracked the top-40 on the albums chart...

Minneapolis-based alt-rap duo Atmosphere land their second top-10 disc with Southsiders at #8. In 2008 they made it to #5 with When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold...

Veteran guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana and his self-titled band earn their 13th top-10 effort with Corazon at #9. Out of those four have topped the albums chart, dating back to their second, Abraxas, in 1970...

Cheeky British singer Lily Allen arrives at #12 with her third studio album Sheezus. Her last, It's Not Me, It's You, peaked at #5 in 2008...

The Nashville: The Music Of Nashville: Season 2: Volume 2 (that's a lot of colons) comes in at #13. All four volumes from the two seasons of the show has reached the top-40, as well as a "live" album  Nashville: On The Record that went to #8 earlier this year...

Indie-rock icon Natalie Merchant is back at #20 with her self-titled sixth studio album. In 1998 the former lead singer of 10000 Maniacs went to #8 with Ophelia...

Kentucky-based hard rock band Black Stone Cherry place their third consecutive top-40 album with Magic Mountain at #22, their best showing as yet..

Merrill Garbus' world-beat act tUnE-yArDs lands their first top-40 album with Nikki Nack at #27...

Another singer enjoying her best rank this week is Swedish indie-pop singer Lykke Li with I Never Learn at #29. It's her second top-40 album in the US...

There's been a run of "tribute" albums on the chart lately, and the latest, All My Friends: A Celebration of the Songs and Voice of Gregg Allman, arrives at #39. This one is from an all-star concert featuring Allman with all his classic songs, with guests like Zac Brown, Martina McBride, Jackson Browne, and big bear Vince Gill...

That's it for the first half of the new crop...out of this baker's dozen the three I would go for first are the Natalie Merchant, Lily Allen, and Gregg Allman records....

I'll be back tomorrow with part two....