NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) -
Avril Lavigne joins music's most exclusive club with her May 25th Arista/RCA release
"Under My Skin" debuting at No 1 on Billboard's US album chart.
Also
"Under My Skin" also debuted at No 1 in Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong!
'Under My Skin' is the follow-up to Avril's 2002 debut album "Let Go," which sold 15 million copies worldwide.
Avril's introspective sophomore release is receiving praise from the critics as well. Billboard called "Under My Skin" "... a one-two punch of radio-ready, rock-tinged riffs and Lavigne's signature defiant yet introspective vocals," while Rolling Stone gave it 3 1/2 stars. Avril has graced the covers of Cosmo Girl, Nylon and USA Today, and was featured in Time, Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly, among others.
The night before her CD release, Avril participated in AOL's weekly concert series, "Broadband Rocks," live from Webster Hall in New York City. The exclusive performance was played 1 million times in seven days on AOL. AOL for Broadband also partnered with Avril on her recent: "Live and By Surprise" tour, which brought Avril to over 100,000 fans in malls across America. At each concert, Avril and guitarist/co-songwriter Evan Taubenfeld performed acoustic versions of three of Avril's earlier songs and three songs from "Under My Skin".
In addition to tracks written with Taubenfeld, Avril collaborated with Ben Moody (formerly with Evanescence) and Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk on "Under My Skin". Other tracks were produced by Don Gilmore (Pearl Jam, Linkin Park and Good Charlotte) and Raine Maida.
Nominated for 8 Grammy awards for 2002 and 2003, Avril broke one chart record after another with the phenomenal success of her 6-times Platinum debut 'Let Go'. Its string of hit singles comprises "Complicated" "Sk8er Boi," "I'm With You," and "Losing Grip." Winner of the '02 MTV VMA for Best New Artist and MTV Latin America's Best New International Artist, Avril went on to amass more than a dozen industry awards around the world, from Germany, Denmark, the U.K., and Holland, to Thailand and Japan.
Avril is also the recipient of 4 Juno awards and 2 Much Music Awards in her native Canada, and the winner of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favorite Song, for "Sk8er Boi," which also won the Teen Choice Music Award for Best Single.
In other US Albums chart news, George Michael's 'Patience,' nearly cracked the Top 10 in its second week as the album rocketed 17 spots to number 12 (No 29 previous week).
With no major new debuts in this holiday-shortened week, Usher and Avril will likely be at it again for chart bragging rights next week.
Here's the countdown of the USA Top 10 albums:
1. Under My Skin, Avril Lavigne (380,507 units/ Avril's highest first week ever!)
2. Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses, Slipknot (242,000)
3. Confessions, Usher (197,000)
4. Here for the Party, Gretchen Wilson
5. Tical 0: The Prequel, Method Man
6. The Reason, Hoobastank
7. D12 World, D12
8. Musicology, Prince
9. Shrek 2 soundtrack, various
10. Catalyst, New Found Glory
