We Live In A Country In Which Godsmack’s Oracle Is #1

Real convincing proof of SOTC chart guru Maura Johnston’s twin theorems regarding Billboard success: a), terrible rock bands sell, and sell, and keep selling, for years at a time, and b), what’s old is new, and what passes for nostalgia on Billboard charts looks a lot like what was popular on rock-radio, circa-2007. Thus the country’s new #1 record is by the long-running, heavy-breathing heavy metal quartet Godsmack, and the most popular track on the songs chart (“Not Afraid”) comes from Eminem, who crossed over to rock radio way back in the early part of the last decade.

At least we finally have a #1 that sold more than 100K? (Oracle moved 117,000 copies, the first time any record has cracked the chart Mendoza line in the last four weeks.) Meanwhile last week’s #1, B.o.B’s The Adventures of Bobby Ray, plummeted all the way down to #12, proving that a Hayley Williams cameo will only take you so far. Wonder if Sleigh Bells will crack this chart next week–it’s not like they’d have to sell all that much to do it, right? [Billboard]