Maroon 5 surges to the top of the sales chart

MAROON 5’s “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long� might have a brow-furrowing title, but the numbers are clear.

With first week sales of 429,000, the pop-R&B; band’s second album entered the national sales chart at No. 1 Wednesday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It’s the second-highest debut week in 2007 and the second straight strong showing for a Los Angeles band. Linkin Park posted the year’s highest debut figure last week with sales of 623,000, and even with a 68% drop, its 198,000 sales were enough to put “Minutes to Midnight� at No. 2.

Three more debuts crowded into the Top 5: Ozzy Osbourne’s “Black Rain,� No. 3 with sales of 152,000; rapper Young Jeezy’s trio U.S.D.A., No. 4 with 95,000, and rock band the Used, No. 5 with 92,000.

“American Idol� acts Daughtry and Carrie Underwood were among the few artists whose album sales increased last week (45% and 10%, respectively), spurred by their appearances on the “Idol� finale.

But the chart’s biggest surge came from emo band Dashboard Confessional, whose 12,000 sales moved “Dusk and Summer� from No. 167 to No. 53.

The reason?

A deluxe edition of the album came out last week.

Despite all those efforts, sales decreased 3.2% during the week, and were 16.7% down from the same week in 2006.

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