Evanescence, Adele and Idol’s Lauren Alaina lay claim to the Charts

Grammy winning rock group Evanescence last hit the charts five years ago with their first chart topping album, The Open Door, and now it’s deja vu as their third album, Evanescence, debuts on top this week. Selling 127,000 copies, the group headed by Amy Lee easily fends off Adele, the new disc from rockers Five Finger Death Punch and a strong second week for American Idol winner Scotty McCreery. He lands at # 4 just ahead of this year’s runner-up, Lauren Alaina, who makes a nice impression with her debut, Wildflower, selling 69,000 copies (the tallest amount for an Idol runner-up since Adam Lambert sold close to 300,000 copies). With Alaina and McCreery’s dual top fives, this marks the first time since season 7′s David Cook and David Archuleta that the top two finalists both landed top ten albums. The other seasons to accomplish this feat were season two (Ruben Studdard & Clay Aiken), season four (Carrie Underwood & Bo Bice) and season five (Taylor Hicks & Katharine McPhee.) In fact season five’s third and fourth place finishers, Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry (of Daughtry) also landed top five debuts. For more on the new Billboard 200 Albums chart, head here and check out the new top ten below.

Billboard 200 Top Ten Albums:
1. Evanescence- Evanescence (debut)
2. 21- Adele (last week~ 2)
3. American Capitalist- Five Finger Death Punch (debut)
4. On A Clear Day- Scotty McCreery (lw~ 1)
5. Wildflower- Lauren Alaina (debut)
6. Duets II- Tony Bennett (lw~ 3)
7. Ashes & Fire- Ryan Adams (debut)
8. Own the Night- Lady Antebellum (lw~ 4)
9. Tha Carter IV- Lil Wayne (lw~ 6)
10. Eleven- Martina McBride (debut)

Here’s the new single from Evanescenc~ “What You Want”

Over on the singles chart, there’s no stopping Adele as “Someone Like You” lands a fourth week on top. Check out the new top ten on the Hot 100 Singles Chart below.

Hot 100 Singles Top Ten:
1. “Someone Like You”- Adele (last week~ 1)
2. “Moves Like Jagger”- Maroon 5 w/ Christina Aguilera (lw~ 2)
3. “Pumped Up Kicks”- Foster the People (lw~ 3)
4. “Sexy and I Know It”- LMFAO (lw~ 4)
5. “Stereo Hearts”- Gym Class Heroes w/Adam Levine (lw~5)
6. “We Found Love”- Rihanna w/Calvin Harris (lw~ 7)
7. “Without You”- David Guetta w/Usher (lw~8)
8. “You Make Me Feel…”- Cobra Starship w/Sabi (lw~ 9)
9. “Party Rock Anthem”- LMFAO (lw~ 6)
10. “Young Wild & Free”- Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa featuring Bruno Mars (debut)

New Music from Idol’s Carly Smithson and We are the Fallen

Carly Smithson was shockingly and undeservedly shown the door on season 7 of American Idol way too early in 6th place while sorely less talented singers Brooke White, Jason Castro and Syesha Mercado all made the top 5. Each of them has had careers post Idol with Mercado starring in the touring production of Dreamgirls (in the Deena role that Beyonce performed in the film) and White and Castro both releasing albums. Unfortunately, neither of their records made much of a dent on the charts. So, it’s somewhat, ironic that Smithson is doing much better than her peers with her band We Are the Fallen which features Ben Moody and other former members of Evanescence. Following a top 30 rock hit “Bury Me Alive”, the band is readying their second single the title track from their debut album Tear the World Down which hit Billboard’s top 30 as well. The edgy rock single should satisfy their hardcore fans but is unlikely to bring them new ones or tap into the fan base Smithson built on Idol. If they wanted more of that mass appeal, they should’ve selected the gorgeous ballad “Sleep Well My Angel” or the midtempo anthem “I Will Stay”. We’ll see if they are chosen as subsequent singles in time, but any new music from the supremely talented vocalist Smithson makes me happy. Her voice is like a latter-day Ann Wilson’s from Heart~ soaring, powerful, intense and full of emotion. Check out We Are the Fallen on tour this summer and fall. For their dates and more on the band, click here. And see which song you prefer from Carly and the boys below.

We Are the Fallen “Tear the World Down”

We Are the Fallen “I Will Stay”

We Are the Fallen “Sleep Well My Angel”