Daft Punk had a nice little two-week run on the Billboard album chart, but the successful Random Access Memories couldn’t hold the number one slot this week. The French duo’s latest musical endeavor was bumped off of the charts by the American band Queens of the Stone Age, which debuted the group’s first album since 2007’s Era Vulgaris this week. There was clearly a lot of anticipation related to the long-awaited release, and it’s no surprise that Queens of the Stone Age’s sixth studio album, …Like Clockwork took the #1 slot.
Alright, it’s at least a bit of a surprise. Queens of the Stone Age produced five studio albums before …Like Clockwork, and none of those managed to hit #1. However, …Like Clockwork has offered a perfect storm for the band. First, there was quite the hiatus between the band’s last album and the recently released one. Then, back in November of last year, Dave Grohl admitted he would be joining the group in the studio to drum on the new album. After that, the group promoted tirelessly, making teaser videos and allowing fans to listen to the new album early.
All of the above combined should have certainly helped to boost interest and, in extension, sales. The group debuted at #1 with 91,000 in sales. It should be noted that Queens of the Stone Age did have another top ten start; the group’s 2005 album, Lullabies to Paralyze debuted at #5 with 97,000 copies sold. Impressively, Billboard is also reporting the band sold 12,000 vinyl copies of the record, as well, which accounts for a pretty high percentage of the sales.
Daft Punk still did well this week, coming in at #2 on the album charts. An album called Feel from the band Sleeping with Sirens earned the #3 position.
