American Songwriter Reads the Charts: Some Might Call Him “Zimmy”

Bob Dylan is back in the charts — on top, in fact (his latest album, Together Through Life, sold 125,000 copies this week.) How does it feel?

Having scored top ten debuts with his last three studio albums, we imagine it probably feels pretty familiar (Dylan’s previous studio effort, Modern Times, also debuted at #1).

Dylan’s impressive chart debut was no doubt spurred by our own ongoing series, “The 30 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs,” which can be read here. You’re welcome, man.

Black Sabbath fans still buy records: rockers Heaven & Hell, which contains four members of the classic metal band (but not Ozzy), scored the second highest chart debut this week, landing at No. 8 with The Devil You Know. Starbucks’ efforts helped the world music compilation Playing For Change earn a pretty penny; the album debuted at No. 10.

The skinny: according to Billboard.com, overall album sales this week totaled 6.172 million units, down 0.6% compared to last week (6.176 million) and down 18.3% compared to the same week last year (7.557 million). Year to date album sales reached 124.0 million, down 12.5% compared to last year’s total (141.8 million).

The top ten albums in the country this week:

1. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
2. Hannah Montana: the Movie
3. Rascal Flatts – Unstoppable
4. Rick Ross – Deeper Than Rap
5. Lady GaGa – The Fame
6. Twilight soundtrack
7. Now 30
8.Heaven & Hell –The Devil You Know
9. Taylor Swift – Fearless
10. Various Artists – Playing for Change