Album Sweep: September 6, 2014 - Part One...

I'm ready to start up the first half of this week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their debut on Billboard magazine's Top 200 Albums sales chart. As always, I've included highlighted links to buy any of the new sets, as well as some of the artists' other major work. Support the talent!

The top-selling album in America this week is the first #1 album from rapper Wiz Khalifa, who sells about 90,000 copies of his third major-label solo studio album Blacc Hollywood.The other two made it to #2...

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Former Survivor reality-show fodder turned country singing/songwriting star Chase Rice lands at #3 with his first full-length album to make the big chart, Ignite The Night. Besides Rice's top-20 country hit "Ready Set Roll", he co-wrote the crossover mega-hit "Cruise" for Florida Georgia Line...

Back in the 90s, when record sales were reaching their height, a slew of "tribute" country albums to rock bands such as the Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd hit the charts. This time around the subject is Metal, with Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Motley Crue, which comes in at #5. It contains cuts from Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes, Florida Georgia Line, and more...

Ace Frehley, the veteran guitarist who is best known for his work with the classic line-up of glam-rock kings Kiss, enters at #9 with Space Invader, his sixth solo set. It's his first time in the top-10...

Motown legend Smokey Robinson returns at #12 with Smokey And Friends, a collaborative album that puts him in the top-40 for the first time since 1987. In fact, it's his second-highest-charting solo album after 1980's Being With You. This new set pairs the 74-year-old singer/songwriter/mogul with artists like Elton John, Jessie J, and John Legend...

Electronica singer/songwriter Imogen Heap is back at #21 with her fourth studio album Sparks. It's her second to make the top-40; back in 2009 her last album Ellipse came in at #5...

American Idol season-11 finalist Colton Dixon runs in at #23 with his sophomore effort Anchor. His debut, A Messenger, did very well, peaking at #15 last year and selling over 100,000 copies...

Long-lasting German heavy-metal band Accept roar in at #35 with Blind Rage, their fourteenth studio album and the first to make the American top-40 on the albums chart...

Meanwhile, Californian rockers Buckcherry take their Fuck EP to #38. They've scored two top-ten albums, with Black Butterfly reaching #8 in 2008. On their first six-song mini, all the tracks have the F-word in the title...

New Zealand native Kimbra finds her second album The Golden Echo at #43. Her debut, Vows, made it to #14 in 2012...

Blues-rock newbie Benjamin Booker debuts at #46 with his self-titled first album...

Contemporary Christian Music guitarist Lincoln Brewster ascends to #51 with his ninth release Oxygen. It's the highest he's reached on this chart as yet...

The soundtrack to the young-adult movie If I Stay, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, comes in at #54. It contains tracks from the Orwells, Ben Howard, Beck, and more...

Nashville-based gospel band Selah enter at #59 with You Amaze Us. Back in 2006 they went to #43 with Bless The Broken Road - The Duets Album...

That's it for the first half of the new crop...out of these first fourteen the four I would choose first are the Imogen Heap, Smokey Robinson, Kimbra, and Benjamin Booker albums...

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