Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Score Their First Number 1 Album

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers have been a band existing almost 40 years without ever earning a number one album, until now. Their latest 'Hypnotic Eye' achieved the lofty position by selling 131,000 copies in its first week of availability.

This marks the highest first-week sales total for any Petty album since the start of the SoundScan era in 1991, It's also the highest single-week sales total the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has had since his 1994 solo effort Wildflowers sold 161,000 copies in December of that year.

Billboard points out that sales of Hypnotic Eye were boosted by a promotion that allowed fans who purchased tickets to the band's current tour dates to download a copy of the album. Petty & the Heartbreakers first appearance on the Billboard 200 came in September 1977, when the group's self-titled debut made its way onto the chart.

Meanwhile, landing at #2 on the Billboard 200 this week is Eric Clapton's latest album, The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale, which sold 61,000 copies. Interestingly, Petty is one of the guest artists who appear on the tribute album, which also includes contributions from Mark Knopfler, Willie Nelson and John Mayer. The Breeze is Clapton's highest-charting record since From the Cradle bowed at #1 back in 1994.

Debuting just behind Clapton in third place on the chart is the movie soundtrack Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1, which sold 60,000 copies. The album is made up mainly of classic hits from the 1970s by such artists as The Jackson 5, Norman Greenbaum, 10cc, The Raspberries, Elvin Bishop and Blue Swede, and it also includes the David Bowie gem "Moonage Daydream."