What are your neighbors listening to? Oxford Karma decided to survey Oklahoma mainstay Guestroom Records about its best-selling records each week to figure out just that. Here’s what was flying off the shelves/out of the crates this week:
1. Tame Impala – Currents
2. Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free
3. Titus Andronicus – The Most Lamentable Tragedy
4. Samantha Crain – Under Branch & Thorn & Tree
4. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels II
4. Arctic Monkeys – AM
4. Joss Stone – Water for Your Soul
8. Ed Sheeran – X
9. Led Zeppelin – In Through the Out Door
10. Led Zeppelin – Presence
For weeks I’ve heard nothing but how boring this new Tame Impala record from old fans of theirs (my deep affection for the Kevin Parker & Co’s third LP notwithstanding), but boy howdy that doesn’t seem to be stepping into their sales much at all. It’s the band’s third straight week atop this chart, so either the detractors are a very vocal minority or Currents is a new option for those in the market for a sound therapy machine to help them fall asleep. And big ups to Jason Isbell for sticking in there. He’s yet to supplant Tame Impala to top the chart, but he did just log his third week at No. 2. Not bad at all, you folk-singin’ sonofabitch.
To prove that time isn’t just standing still, Titus Andronicus docks in a No. 3 with its 29-song rock opera epic The Most Lamentable Tragedy. Then comes a weird logjam at the No. 4 spot, where Samantha Crain, Run the Jewels, Arctic Monkeys, and Joss Stone (bearing a new album) are all stuck together, injecting a little intrigue into this Tame Impala/Jason Isbell reign of record sales terror. Folk-pop megastar (and budding actor) Ed Sheeran bumps into the picture with his bestseller X at No. 8, while a pair of Led Zeppelin reissues round out the rest of the list.
