Rock leaps into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week, with three albums debuting there, two of them the highest charting in its artist’s long career.
With rappers Logic and Lil Yachty occupying the number-one and -two positions, ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne’s American Utopia becomes the top charting album of his career -- in and out of the Heads -- at number-three. It's also the first Top 10 album he's ever had, helped -- as many high charting albums are these days -- by a free giveaway with the purchase of tickets to his concert tour.
The number-five debut of Judas Priest’s Firepower is also the metal band’s chart pinnacle in a nearly 50 year career. It just edges out the number-six entry of the band's last album, 2014's Redeemer of Souls, which was the group's first Top 10 ever. After amassing five Top 10 albums during his lifetime, the number-eight debut of Both Sides of the Sky is the sixth posthumous Top 10 album for Jimi Hendrix.
Ed Sheeran also remains in the Top 10 at number-10. (Billboard)