U2 notched their eighth Number One album as the band's Songs of Experience debuted atop the Billboard 200.

Bono and company's 14th studio album and follow-up to 2014's Songs of Innocence sold 186,000 total copies in its first week of release, the best sales for a rock release since Metallica's Hardwired… to Self-Destruct back in December 2016, Billboard reports.

Songs of Experience, Number Three on Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2017 list, also marks U2's first Number One album since 2009's No Line on the Horizon; as a free Apple giveaway, Songs of Innocence was ineligible for the Billboard 200. From 1987's The Joshua Tree to Songs of Experience, only one eligible U2 studio album has failed to reach Number One: 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind, which peaked at Number Three.

Two more new releases crashed the Top 10: Chris Stapleton's From A Room: Volume 2 opened at Number Two with 125,000 total copies, matching the Number Two debut of From A Room: Volume 1 in May. Miguel's latest War & Leisure entered at Number Nine with 40,000 total copies.

After a three-week reign at Number One, Taylor Swift's Reputation fell back to spots to Number Three as 2017's best-selling album added another 112,000 copies to its impressive haul. Ed Sheeran's Divide moved up one spot to Number Four, followed by Pentatonix's A Pentatonix Christmas at Number Five and Demi Lovato's Tell Me You Love Me, which rose to Number Six thanks to a deal that packaged album copies with ticket sales.

Sam Smith's The Thrill of It All (Number Seven), Michael Buble's Christmas (Eight) and Garth Brooks' The Anthology: Part I, The First Five Years (Number 10) closed out the Top 10.

Next week's charts should see a shakeup at the top as Luke Bryan's What Makes You Country and Big Sean & Metro Boomin's Double or Nothing enter the fray.

Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...rience-w513711