‘Gang’ boosts Rascal Flatts

THE music industry has been hungry for success stories this year, and it just got one from its country constituency: “Me and My Gang,” the new album by Rascal Flatts, sold 722,000 copies to debut at No. 1 on the pop album chart, the best one-week performance by a CD all year.

Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus make up Rascal Flatts, and this new release is the group’s fourth album and includes more of the big, heartfelt ballads and a high-polish, pop-leaning sound on which the outfit made its name.

At No. 2 this week is the latest installment of the popular hit-song survey “Now That’s What I Call Music.” Volume 21 in the series features 20 recent radio songs by Mariah Carey, T. Pain, Kelly Clarkson, Three 6 Mafia, the Black Eyed Peas and others. It sold 334,000 copies its first week in stores, enough to propel it to the top strata of the charts but, according to Billboard, it’s the weakest debut for the franchise since its 14th edition back in 2003.

Last week’s No. 1 seller, “King.” by Atlanta rapper T.I., drops to No. 3 with sales of 188,000 its second week, down from 522,000 the previous week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which monitors retail sales.

Pink’s new CD, “I’m Not Dead,” lived up to its name, debuting at No. 6 on sales of 126,000 copies. The album has been helped by the feisty single “Stupid Girls.”

The only other Top 10 debut belong to southern-fried rapper Bubba Sparxxx. His third CD, “Charm,” sold 51,000 copies to claim the No. 9 spot. At No. 11, the trippy veteran rock band called the Flaming Lips saw its “At War With the Mystics,” sell 48,000 copies. That’s the Oklahoma outfit’s best sales week in a career the stretches back to its indie-label days in the 1980s.

For metal fans, there are two new CDs in the second half of the Top 20. Queensryche claims the No. 14 spot with “Operation: Mindcrime II” on sales of 44,000 copies while, three slots later, there’s “The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock,” the spandex band’s new career survey.