music is being watched closely ‘Glee’ Tops Vampires on Charts

‘Glee’ Tops Vampires on Charts

The Billboard album chart this week answered one burning question: which is more powerful, vampires or a high school glee club?

Turns out it’s the gleeks. “Glee: The Music,  Journey to Regionals” (Columbia), a new six-song collection that is the show’s fifth release in its first season — and its third to reach No. 1 — sold 152,000 copies last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That is about 8,000 more than the soundtrack to “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” (Chop Shop/Atlantic), also released last week, with songs by Muse, Band of Horses, Vampire Weekend and others.

“Glee” releases (all on Columbia) continue to dot the upper rungs of the chart. “The Music, Volume 3,  Showstoppers,” which came out a month ago, is No. 7; “The Music, Volume 1” is No. 37; “The Power of Madonna,” another mini-album, is No. 46; and “The Music, Volume 2” is No. 48. Together all five “Glee” albums have sold almost 2.2 million copies, along with almost 8.9 million downloads of individual tracks.

Also on this week’s album chart: Christina Aguilera’s new “Bionic” (RCA) is No. 3 with 110,000 sales; Jack Johnson’s “To the Sea” (Brushfire) fell three spots to No. 4, with 89,000 sales; and the Florida rapper Plies’s new album, “Goon Affiliated” (Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic), is No. 5 with 56,000. The country singer Dierks Bentley’s new album, “Up on the Ridge” (Capitol Nashville), reached No. 9 with 38,000 sales, and Jewel’s latest, “Sweet and Wild” (Valory), is No. 10 in its first week, with 31,000.

Some bigger numbers are expected for next week’s chart. Drake’s  “Thank Me Later” (Aspire/Young Money/Cash Money), released on Tuesday, could sell 475,000 copies or more, according to Billboard, making it a contender for the biggest opening sales week of the year. (That record is currently held by Sade’s “Soldier of Love,” which sold 502,000 copies in its first week, in February.)