Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold Ascend To No.1

Californian hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold have scored their first No.1 with fifth studio album Nightmare. It puts a stop to Eminem's chart dominance, after his Recovery had spent five successive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. Nightmare sold 163,000 copies, just 4,000 more than Recovery, but it was enough to secure top spot. Nightmare is Avenged Sevenfold's first album since the death of drummer The Rev. Also known as Jimmy Sullivan, the band's co-founder was found dead last December at the age of 28, after mixing too much alcohol with painkillers and sedatives. Some songs co-written by The Rev are included on Nightmare. The band's new drummer is Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy. It's the most static Top 10 on the Billboard 200 for almost six months, with no other new entries besides Nightmare. Its rise saw Rick Ross fall, one place, to No.3 with Teflon Don (63,000 sales), while Justin Bieber's My World 2.0 climbs to No.4 (38,000) and Drake's Thank Me Later rounds out the Top 5 thanks to a score of 34,000.