(PR) "EXILE ON MAINSTREAM," the much-anticipated new album from Melisma/Atlantic recording group MATCHBOX TWENTY, has debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200, while also premiering at #1 on SoundScan's Current Alternative Albums chart. With 131,000 sold, this marks the biggest first week of the year for a greatest hits collection. The #3 premiere also matches the group's previous highest Billboard 200 debut, 2000's "MAD SEASON." MATCHBOX TWENTY is also seeing tremendous success in Australia, where the album debuted in the #1 spot.
A look back and a look ahead, "EXILE ON MAINSTREAM", the first album from the group in five years, combines a six-track EP of new songs, produced by Grammy winner Steve Lillywhite, with a retrospective of the band's greatest hits culled from their previous three albums, which were produced by Matt Serletic. The album's first single, "How Far We've Come," is the #1 Most Played Video this week on VH1.
Alongside the six new tracks, MATCHBOX TWENTY selected 11 songs for the greatest hits disc, presenting them in chronological order to trace their musical evolution. 10 of the 11 tracks were top 10 singles at Hot AC/Adult Top 40 radio, including the #1-charting "3 am," "Bent," "If You're Gone," and "Unwell." Combined, these four songs spent 54 weeks at the top of the charts, marking the most weeks at #1 for any act in the history of the Hot AC/Adult Top 40 listings.
With "EXILE ON MAINSTREAM" celebrating both a decade of chart-topping success and a musical rebirth, the members of MATCHBOX TWENTY are now focused on their future, and looking forward to their first tour in four years. MATCHBOX TWENTY is: Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Kyle Cook, and Brian Yale.
