Right now if there's an entertainment chart to be topped, there's a good chance it will be taken by The Hunger Games. This week the blockbuster film's soundtrack itself became a blockbuster, taking the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 175,000. The album was no doubt helped by the big names recruited for the soundtrack, including Arcade Fire, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, the Civil Wars, and Miranda Lambert. The Hunger Games is only the 16th soundtrack ever to hit No. 1, and the first since The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009.
Other debuts this week include The Shins' Port Of Morrow (No. 3, 75,000), Melanie Fiona's A.V. Club-approved The MF Life (No. 7, 34,000), and Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society (No. 10, 25,000). Also scoring big in its first week is Odd Future's The OF Tape Vol. 2, which comes in at No. 5 with 40,000 sold—which is comparable to what Tyler, The Creator's Goblin moved in its first week last year.
The rest of the top 10 is full of usual suspects: Last week's top album, One Direction's Up All Night, falls to No. 4 (55,000), then comes Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball (No. 6, 37,000), Now 41 (No. 8, 31,000), and Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits (No. 9, 28,000). [via Billboard]