Foo Fighters, whose Sonic Highways has been promoted with an HBO documentary series and a week-long residency on theLate Show with David Letterman, among other things, debuted at No. 2, selling 190,000 copies of the album.
Two acts who hadn't released new studio albums in years — Pink Floyd and Garth Brooks — debuted in the Nos. 3 and 4 spots, respectively. Pink Floyd's The Endless River, based on material the band started recording in 1993 and the group's first album since keyboardist Richard Wright's 2008 death, sold 170,000 copies.
Brooks, the best-selling solo act in U.S. history, sold 130,000 copies of Man Against Machine, his first album of new material since 2001.
"It's hard to look at his number in a vacuum," Caulfield says. "This is his first studio album in 13 years. He removed himself from the music landscape for a very long time.
