Black Eyed Peas Earn Third Top 10 Debut

The Black Eyed Peas return to the top 10 on the albums chart with the follow-up to their multi-platinum release The E.N.D., but their labelmate Soulja Boy didn’t fare as well in this week’s sales.

Will.i.am, Fergie, apl.de.ap, and Taboo’s sixth album The Beginning comes in at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 119,000 copies sold in its opening week. In comparison, The E.N.D. topped the charts with 304,000 in the summer of 2009. The group earns their third top 10 entry based on the success of the Dirty Dancing-sampled single “The Time (Dirty Bit),” which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Peas can blame Susan Boyle, who bumps Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy from the top of the chart down to No. 7 with 108,000. Nicki Minaj’s debut Pink Friday drops six spots to No. 8 with 103,000.

R&B powerhouse Jazmine Sullivan blows in at No. 17 with 57,000 units sold of her sophomore set Love Me Back. Fellow songbird Chrisette Michele finds her third LP Let Freedom Reign entering at No. 25 with 42,000 units.

Meanwhile, Soulja Boy finds his third album The DeAndre Way with meek first-week sales. The “Speakers Going Hammer” rapper only managed to sell 13,000 copies of the disc, putting him way down the chart at No. 79. Comparatively, his 2008 album iSouljaBoyTellem debuted at No. 43 with 45,500 copies sold.