Last week's buoyant album sales figures were short-lived. Album sales dropped 24% last week and were 32% lower than the same week last year. Ouch.

The reason for the drop? Yet another miserable release schedule. The top debut of the week was Bright Eyes' Cassadaga (Saddle Creek), which sold a respectable (for an indie) 58,000 (19% digital). Epic's self-titled debut by metal super group Hell Yeah debuted at #9 with sales of 45,000 (7% digital). Those two albums were the only debuts in the Top 40. Every other album in the Top 40 had a sales decline last week, most of them in the 30-40% range. Last week's #1 album, Now 24, remained at the top of the chart but sank 58%. Tim McGraw's Let It Go (Curb), the top album two weeks ago, remained at #2 in spite of a 63% drop.

The Top 20 album with the lowest rate of decline was Amy Winehouse's Back To Black (Universal Republic), which dropped 17% but jumped to #12 from #22.

Second-week fades: Hilary Duff sank 71%, Martina McBride dropped 64%, Kings of Leon stumbled 64%, Shadows Fall nosedived 63%, Chevelle faded 62%, Paul Wall sank 60%, Timbaland fell 58% and Static-X fell 58%. Six Degrees' Ceu actually increased 50%.

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