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Who Charted? The ‘Hunger Games’ Soundtrack, Duh

'The Hunger Games' Image Courtesy Lionsgate

First! As predicted, the Appalachialicious Hunger Games soundtrack arrived at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200, becoming the first film soundtrack to hit the top spot since Michael Jackson’s This is It in November 2009. It gets even better, though, because if you get more specific, it’s the first No. 1 charting soundtrack with more than one artist since the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack dropped (only a week before the This is It soundtrack, but who’s counting?) — but with 175,000 copies sold per Nielsen SoundScan, Katniss basically makes Bella Swan, with her second movie’s soundtrack selling only 153,000 its first week, look like a chump.

2 Through 10: Adele’s 21, still not going anywhere, sold 130,000 copies at No. 2, but the Shins debuted at No. 3 with Port of Morrow (which we thought was pretty good) grabbing a tally of 75,000. Even with the help of major Columbia, the number’s still not as good as the band’s last, Sub Pop (indie) release, Wincing the Night Away, though, which sold 118,000 its first week in 2007. In fourth comes America’s latest fan-hoarders One Direction (who debuted at No. 1 last week), while No. 5 goes to the debut of Odd Future’s OF Tapes Vol. 2, which sold a fairly low 40,000 copies, though Tyler has said the gang doesn’t give a rat’s behind about album sales. No. 6 is the Boss’ Wrecking Ball with 37,000 copies, while Nos. 7 and 8 belong to Melanie Fiona’s debuting The MF Life and that darned Now 41 compilation. The 9 and 10 spots went to Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits (28,000) and Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music Society, the latter of which debuted with 25,000 sold.

The Internet is Still Fun. Those dudes who used to be in the Format are still owning the digital sphere, holding at No. 1 on the Digital Albums chart with “We Are Young.” The track has just surpassed Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” as the year’s top-selling song so far, having been (legally) downloaded 2.39 million times. Can you ever have too much fun.? (Just to give you an idea of how much stuff goes on on the web, did you know that 25.68 million tracks were bought this past week alone? That’s 4 percent more than how many were bought this week last year.)

Prepare for a Fight: Madonna’s MDNA numbers and those for Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee come out next week. Some estimates say this one is going to actually be a toss-up for No. 1. May we also remind you that The Hunger Games will still be in theaters?