Album Sweep: March 21, 2015...

I'm a little late, but it's time for last week's "album sweep", sampling the records making their debut on the Top Album Sales chart in Billboard magazine this week. As usual, I've included highlighted links to buy any of the new ones, along with some of the artists' other major work. Support the talent!

The first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, scores her third #1 album as Piece By Piece, her seventh studio album, sold over 80,000 copies in its first week. She also did the trick with her debut, Thankful, in 2003, and her fourth, All I Ever Wanted, in 2009...

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Folk rock singer/songwriter and "out" lesbian artist Brandi Carlile lands her second top-10 album and highest rank ever at #4 with The Firewatcher's Daughter...

Christian rock band Third Day ascends to #13 with Lead Us Back: Songs Of Worship. Their last four albums had made the top-10, with Revelation going to #6 in 2008...

50 Cent-affiliated rap collective G-Unit comes in at #18 with The Beast, their second EP. Both their full-length releases made the top-5, with Beg For Mercy reaching #2 in 2003..

Canadian electronica act Purity Ring chime in at #20 with their second album Another Eternity. Both have made the top-40...

Former Oasis member Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds band land at #24 with their second album and second top-30 effort Chasing Yesterday...

British pop/rock "boyband" Rixton enter at #28 with their debut full length album Let The Road...

Progressive rock musician Steven Wilson spikes in at #29 with his fourth release Hand.Cannot.Erase. It's his first solo effort apart from his band Porcupine Tree to make the top-40.

Another Christian rock outfit, Casting Crowns, comes in at #33 with the Cracker Barrel exclusive (for the physical CD)  Glorious Day: Hymns Of Faith. Their last five regular studio albums have gone to the top-10, with both The Altar And The Door in 2007 and Come To The Well in 2011 stopping at #2...

Coming from her successful "residency" in Vegas' Caesar's Palace hotel, Shania Twain returns at #34 with Shania: Still The One: Live From Vegas. It's the Canadian-born superstar's first live album; she owns two of the biggest-selling albums of all time with her #1 classics Come On Over in 1997 and Up! in 2002...

Dubstep/electronic dance artist Seven Lions (aka Jeff Montalvo) roars in at #72 with his fourth EP The Throes Of Winter. It's his second charting set and highest rank yet...

The latest EP from an episode of the hit TV musical drama Empire, Music From Unto The Breach, enters at #74. The full-length season one soundtrack is expected to land at #2 on the chart next week...

Traditional country veterans Asleep At The Wheel drive in at #84 with Still The King: Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills and the Playboys. It's their third hit tribute to the late Wills; their first Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills and the Playboys reached #159 in 1993 (it was a top-40 country hit too)...

The final new entry of the week at #85 is the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles with Easter At Ephesus. The convent's Lent At Ephesus ascended to #49 last year...

That's all for the new crop...out of these fifteen there are some great choices, with mine being the Brandi Carlile, Noel Gallagher, Asleep At the Wheel, Purity Ring, and Kelly Clarkson sets for my top five...