New CDs jammed at the top

THE top of the nation’s album sales chart is ruled by the new release this week: The top five spots belong to albums in their debut week, with “IV,” from the Boston rock quartet Godsmack, in the lead.

The Roman-numeral title of Godsmack’s fourth album is almost certainly a nod to its heavy-metal heroes in Led Zeppelin, and, like that band of yore, the music on the new release mixes the band’s customary guitar thunder with a somewhat novel interest in the blues. The CD sold 211,000 copies.

Taking Back Sunday claims the No. 2 spot, though it is a distant second (158,000 copies sold), with “Louder Now,” the New York band’s third album. At No. 3, rock icon Bruce Springsteen returned to the charts with “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,” which surveys the seminal folk music of Pete Seeger. It sold 149,000 copies.

R&B; singer Avant is back with the CD titled “Director,” which sold 123,000 copies to claim the No. 4 spot for the slow-jam specialist from Ohio. The Top 5 is rounded out by Rihanna, the young singer from Barbados who scored a hot summer hit with “Pon de Replay” last year and has a new one in “SOS” off the release “A Girl Like Me.” It sold 115,000 copies.

Last week’s No. 1 album, “Me and My Gang,” from Rascal Flatts, falls to No. 6. The country trio’s CD sold 111,000 copies last week, and 1.3 million since its release April 4.