Tool Fans Seem Quick to Forgive

The first song on Tool’s new “Lateralus” album is titled “The Grudge,” but clearly fans didn’t hold one against the alt-metal group for taking five years between albums. They snapped up 555,000 copies last week to make it No. 1 on the national album chart.

Tool threw a monkey wrench into Destiny’s Child’s bid to hang on to the top spot for a third week, routing the trio’s “Survivor,” which drops to No. 3 this week.

“Tool had incredible pent-up demand for this record,” says Wherehouse Entertainment’s senior pop buyer, Bob Bell. “Fans are really hungry to hear their new music.”

In fact, fans were hungry for lots of new music: Tool, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott and Weezer teamed up to place three more debut albums in the Top 5, with combined sales topping 1 million.

Elliott’s “Miss E . . . So Addictive” sold 251,000 to enter at No. 2, topping Destiny’s Child “Survivor” by almost 30,000. Right behind the R&B; trio is “Weezer,” which sold 215,000 copies, according to SoundScan.

The strong week for new albums from veteran bands extended to solid starts for R.E.M.’s “Reveal” and Depeche Mode’s “Exciter,” which landed at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Go-Go’s’ “God Bless the Go-Go’s,” the quintet’s first album in 16 years, sold 22,700 to debut at No. 57.

“Overall it’s a huge week for alternative-rock,” Bell says. “Those are spectacular numbers for Tool, and it’s a pretty amazing comeback for Weezer.”

The rest of the Top 10 slots are held by Janet Jackson (No. 5), “Now That’s What I Call Music! 6” (No. 7), Paul McCartney (No. 9) and the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack (No. 10).

And it looks as if hard rock will keep setting the pace. Retailers are anticipating that Boston metal group Staind will match or beat Tool’s first-week figure next week with its second album, “Break the Cycle,” which was released Tuesday.

“Staind is doing huge [first-day] numbers,” Bell says. “That one is going to be comparable to Tool.”

The nation’s best-selling single is Lil’ Romeo’s “My Baby.”