Billboard.com

Marilyn Manson Posts 'Grotesque' At No. 1

Marilyn Manson's "The Golden Age of Grotesque" gives the theatrical rocker the second No. 1 album of his career. One of four albums to debut inside the top-20, the Interscope release sold 118,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, to debut on top of The Billboard 200. Manson last reached the top of the chart with 1998's "Mechanical Animals," which moved 223,000 copies in its first week.

Manson's last release, "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)," arrived at No. 13 in November 2000 with sales of 117,000 copies. The first single from the new album, "mOBSCENE," is in the top-30 on Billboard's Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks charts.

Despite an 11% drop in sales to 106,000 copies, 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" (Shady/Interscope) takes a 5-2 jump on The Billboard 200.

Cold's "Year of the Spider" gives the hard rock act its best week ever on The Billboard 200. The Interscope album bows at No. 3 on sales of 101,000 copies, nearly a fifth of the total sold by its debut, "13 Ways To Bleed on Stage." The latter first entered The Billboard 200 at No. 174 in late 2000. After spawning rock radio hits "End of the World," "No One," and "Gone Away," the album went on to sell 447,000 copies and eventually peaked at No. 97. Current single "Stupid Girl" is a top-10 hit on the Mainstream Rock Tracks tally.

Manson, 50 Cent, and Cold give the hard rock and rap oriented Interscope label control of the first three slots on The Billboard 200, a feat that hasn't occurred since 1996. In December of that year, Interscope had the top four albums on the chart with Bush's "Razorblade Suitcase," Snoop Dogg's "Tha Doggfather," No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom," and 2Pac's "The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory."

Wind-Up act Evanescence jumps 6-4 on the chart with its debut, "Fallen." Sales of the set were down 5% to 97,000. The Maverick/Warner Bros. soundtrack to the "Matrix Reloaded" benefited from the film's blockbuster opening weekend, jumping 8-5 on a 2.6% sales gain to 96,000.

In the week following Mother's Day, sales of Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" (Blue Note/Capitol) fell 37% to 88,000 copies, causing a 2-6 tumble on the chart. Sales of Kelly Clarkson's RCA debut "Thankful" were down 16% to 78,000 copies, but the set still manages a 9-7 chart climb.

Disney's soundtrack to "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" survived a 16% sales decrease to sales of 78,000 copies, and the title gains 10-8. "The Very Best of Cher" (Geffen/MCA/Warner Bros.) slips 4-9, the victim of a 41% sales loss to 72,000 copies.

Last week's top debut, the Isley Brothers' "Body Kiss" (DreamWorks), tumbles 1-10 on a 56% sales drop to 68,000 copies. Nevertheless, the album has moved more than 200,000 copies in two weeks.

Third Eye Blind's latest, "Out of the Vein" (Elektra), arrives at No. 12. The band's first album in four years sold 63,000 copies in its opening week. 3EB's 1999 set "Blue" sold more in its first week, 75,000 copies, but opened much lower at No. 40 due to its debut during the busy winter holiday sales period. To date, "Blue" has sold 1.25 million copies.

Rock act the Alkaline Trio scores its first album in the top-half of The Billboard 200 with a solid No. 20 entry for its latest, "Good Mourning." The Vagrant Records album sold 40,000 copies. The band's 2001 album "From Here to Infirmary" has sold 95,000 copies to date and never rose above No. 199 on album chart.