Staind clinch number one. (US chartfile).

Three years ago this week, Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP debuted at number one, two years ago this week Staind's Break The Cycle debuted at number one and this week last year The Eminem Show debuted at number one. All of which suggests that this week it should be the turn of Staind (pictured) again--and, remarkably, it is. The one-time Limp Bizkit proteges sold 221,000 copies of their third album 14 Shades Of Grey last week to debut in pole position, with fellow rockers the Deftones' eponymous fourth album debuting at number two with 167,000 sales. Break The Cycle sold far more copies last week than Staind's debut album Dysfunction did when it opened at number 173 with 29,000 sales in 1999, but far fewer than Break The Cycle, which shifted a massive 716,000 copies on its first week in the shops in 2001.

The success of Staind and the Deftones gives rock a second week of dominance on the chart. Last week, of course, four of the top five were rock albums. Since then Cold have indeed gone cold, slumping 3-29 with Year Of The Spider, but Fallen has yet to live up to its name and holds at number four for Evanescence. The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack dips a notch to number six, while The Golden Age Of The Grotesque by Marilyn Manson suffers the indignity of falling further from number one than any ...