What's shifting in Boise, Idaho

Out of slight interest, here's this week's Billboard album top 30:

1 Coldplay - X & Y
737,300 sold, compared to 464,000 here (FWIW, Parachutes 51, Rush Of Blood 5) They're a worldwide concern now, I take it.

2 Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business

3 White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
Already bettering Elephant by six places

4 Shakira - Fijacion Oral Vol. 1
Hmm, how do you suspect her Spanish language album will do in the partisan UK? The top four are all new entries, remarkably for Billboard

5 Mariah Carey - The Emancipation Of Mimi

6 System Of A Down - Mezmerize
After four weeks having entered at the top. Not surprisingly, it's not this high in the UK charts

7 Toby Keith - Honkytonk University
Crikey.

8 Gwen Stefani - Love Angel Music Baby

9 Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
Oh, I see, breaking away from her American Idol goody two shoes image with her Avril-but-with-sessioneers-who-wish-they-were-Interpol direction, yes?

10 Audioslave - Out Of Exile

11 50 Cent - The Massacre

12 Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up
Possibly regretting that self-titling 'Who Is Dave Matthews?' British poster campaign from three years back or so

13 Various - Vans Warped Tour 2005
Annual skate punk jamboree and proof that someone really has called their band Big D And The Kids Table. Tracks of most immediate interest: It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door (Underoath) and Me Vs Morrissey In The Pretentious Contest, The Ladder Match (A Wilhelm Scream)

14 Common - Be

15 Killers - Hot Fuss
It's been number seven too, and Mr Brightside has been top ten very recently

16 Rascal Flatts - Feels Like Today
Pop-country himbo trio described on one fan site as 'country music's newest group'. What, anywhere?

17 Gorillaz - Demon Days

18 Keith Urban - Be Here

19 Il Divo - Il Divo
Oh christ. It entered at number four, Cowell probably doing all their promo in America too

20 Various - The Longest Yard Soundtrack
Adam Sandler-starring remake of prison gridiron film, remade by Vinnie Jones as The Mean Machine four years ago. Nelly's in it too, so this is essentially him and his mates

21 Mike Jones - Who Is Mike Jones?
Dave Matthews' sleepless London hotel nights come back to haunt him. Southern rapper who has been number 3. Gimmicks: a) rhyming really slowly, b) giving out his mobile number, c) including name in lyrics

22 Weezer - Make Believe

23 Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
No James Blunt yet, though

24 Finch - Say Hello To Sunshine
Beat Geri in the UK album charts, and here too

25 Kem - Album II
Inventive. Can't we get used to album I yet? Let's call him the new d'Angelo for the hell of it

26 Green Day - American Idiot

27 Jodeci - Back To The Future: The Very Best Of Jodeci
Possibly only works in America as a concept, this

28 Pretty Ricky - Bluestars
We'll be the judges of prettiness, cheers. R&B foursome with a single called Grind With Me, which demonstrates everything you need to know

29 Ciara - Goodies

30 Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil
Metal, perhaps? Of other interest, Oasis entered at 12 and immediately hurtled down to 37, a Def Leppard Definitive Collection has been top ten and is now 42, Van Morrison is hanging around, The Bravery have been number 18 (now 84) and Paul Anka has a new album called Rock Swings, which enters at 125. It is not a golf-related album. It is an album of swing versions of songs including Eye Of The Tiger, Everybody Hurts, Wonderwall, Black Hole Sun, It's A Sin, The Love Cats and, inevitably, Smells Like Teen Spirit. Will the last person to sub-ironically cover Smells Like Teen Spirit please turn out the lights?