‘Weathered’ Storms to No. 1

Creed, the hard-rock band with a spiritual edge, made believers out of record retailers by entering the nation’s album sales chart at No. 1 Wednesday with the second-highest, first-week sales total of any album this year.

“Weathered” sold 887,000 copies last week, which trails only ‘N Sync’s “Celebrity” in the ranking of the year’s top first-week totals. That album sold 1.88 million copies during its first week in July.

The Creed sales punch was widely expected in the industry because the group’s last album, “Human Clay,” has sold more than 10.1 million copies since it was released in the fall of 1999.

In reviewing the album, Richard Cromelin wrote in The Times, “Bands such as U2 have incorporated a vague Christian spirituality into some of their inspirational songs, but no one has combined hard-core Christianity, crushing hard rock and massive sales like Creed.

“Frontman Scott Stapp, guitarist-bassist Mark Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips aren’t pulpit-pounding evangelists, and they don’t take the name of the Lord that often. But a heartland fundamentalism governs their worldview, which in turn colors the music.”

Three other new releases also entered the Top 10 this week. They were led by Volume 8 in the “Now That’s What I Call Music” hit compilation series, which finished No. 2 after selling 549,000 copies.

The others are Kid Rock’s “Cocky,” which finished No. 7 with sales of 223,000, and Pink’s “Missundaztood,” which finished No. 8, with sales of 220,000.

Mick Jagger’s “Goddess in the Doorway” sold 68,000 last week to edge by 2,000 the first-week total two weeks ago of Paul McCartney’s “Driving Rain.” The latter dropped 39 positions to No. 65 in its second week on the charts.

The other spots in the Top 10 were claimed by Britney Spears (No. 3), Garth Brooks (4), a “Now Christmas” compilation (5), Enya (6), Enrique Iglesias (9) and Linkin Park (10). Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” is the nation’s best-selling single.