Mo!

Arctic Monkeys' album Whatever,..., debuted on the Billboard 200 at #24. Here are the rock albums that beat out Whatever,...,:

#17: Nickelback All the Right Reasons
#5: James Blunt Back to Bedlam
#3: Jack Johnson Curious George (Soundtrack)

So the album-buying public prefers Canadian pseudo-grunge, bland adult contemporary and children's songs from a surfer.

Speaking of children's songs, here's a trend I noticed on Billboard: regression! Forget the death (or dearth) of rock on the Billboard 200. Adult songs are passe'.

What beat out the Curious George soundtrack?

Kidz Bop 9 and the High School Musical soundtrack from Walt Disney records!

See, if the Arctic Monkeys had only called themselves something more appealing to children like the Chocolate Monkeys, the Feel-Good Summer Blockbuster Monkeys or the Curious Little Monkeys, there would have been a veritable post-punk British Invasion.

Hopefully, Yeah Yeah Yeahs won't have to change their name to Yo-Yos to break the top 10 on the Billboard 200.

Update: Just got linked to on Brooklyn Vegan! Awesome!