If the battle for the top spot on the Billboard album chart was a sport, it would be -- in these early days of 2011 -- something like kitten wrestling. For the second week in a row, the best-selling album in the country .
Showroom of Compassion, the sixth album from , those aficionados of horns and deadpan vocals, moved only 44,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. Cake is the only band that can spin this week's numbers as good news; no other album sold more than 39,000.
Last week, 's Speak Now topped the Billboard 200 after selling just 52,000, but that low-water mark followed many weeks of remarkable sales. Cake's debut sales numbers, in even a marginally healthier climate -- say, one year ago, when the Hope For Haiti Nowcompilation won the week -- would have been good enough to place it at number 6.
Next week: Kidz Bop Kids, the , , and gently paw at each other for the top spot.
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