Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.

As I Lay Dying have released what many are calling their best album yet. While The Powerless Rise might be their best album, it’s not their highest-debuting, as An Ocean Between Us notched a #8 debut in 2007, selling about 1,000 more copies. Godsmack and AC/DC are also in the top ten, making it a pretty metal top ten. However, when the #1 album in the country only sells 60,000 (that lesbian chick Justin Bieber), that’s a sad state of affairs.

Notable Debuts:

As I Lay Dying, The Powerless Rise (Metal Blade) #10, 38,000 copies
That three years after their last album, AILD only sold 1,000 less copies is pretty astounding when you think about how much album sales have decreased since then.

We Are the Fallen, Tear the World Down (Universal) #33, 13,000 sold
What do you get when you take former members of Evanescence and a girl that took third place on American Idol? Not Evanescence numbers, that’s for sure.

Taproot, Plead the Fifth (Victory) #107, 4,800 sold
It’s been a while since Taproot has put out a new album , so this is a pretty respectable debut.

Atilla, Rage (Artery Foundation/Razor & Tie) 1,675 sold
This is a nice debut for this band on their new label. They’re actually way better than I’d expected.

John 5, Art of Malice (Rocket Science) 1,200 sold
Rob Zombie’s guitarist has played with everyone from Manson to David Lee Roth. This solo album should play well with the people that read about pentatonic minors.

Misery Index, Heirs to Thievery (Relapse) 975 sold
Who’d have thought that a death band would come out of Baltimore?

Brain Drill, Quantum Catastrophe (Metal Blade) 700 sold
This tech-death metal band starts this album out with a 16 minute long song. Wow.

Howl, Full of Hell (Relapse) 500 sold
We really dug these guys (and girl) at SXSW this year.

Notable Sales:

AC/DC, AC/DC: Iron Man 2 (Columbia) #4 48,000 sold
This soundtrack is almost halfway to gold in four weeks. It’s as much a blockbuster as the movie is.

Godsmack, Oracle (Universal) #9 43,000 sold
Last week’s #1 album takes a 63% drop, but that still gives them over 160,000 in two weeks.

Deftones, Diamond Eyes (Reprise) #18 20,000 sold
This is continuing to sell, and the anticipation for the tour with Alice in Chains and Mastodon should keep them top of mind.

Bullet For My Valentine, Fever (Jive) #28 15,000 sold
The band easily break the 100,000 sold barrier in only three weeks.

Slash, Slash (EMI) #84 6,100 sold
Is it bad that this album will probably be on the charts longer than W. Axl Rose’s most recent one?

Sevendust, Cold Day Memory (7 Bros.) #117 4,500 sold
They’ll likely hit 50,000 sold next week, which isn’t too shabby for five weeks in.

Coheed and Cambria, Year Of The Black Rainbow (Colombia) #123 4,100 sold
The band slip another 18% in sales this week.

Cypress Hill, Rise Up (Capital) #142 3,700 sold
Rise up? Hmm… That’s one thing this album isn’t seeming to do.

Five Finger Death Punch, War Is The Answer (Prospect Park) #156 3,400 sold
Inching up towards 250,000 sold.

Drowning Pool, Drowning Pool (Eleven-Seven) #157 3,400 sold
A pretty sizable 46% dropoff in week #3 for this band, currently a band with the

Nonpoint, Miracle (Rocket Science) #166 3,330 sold
Miracle? I wonder what Nonpoint think about magnets?

Alice In Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue (Virgin) #178 3,000 sold
Up to 430,000 sold.

Motley Crue, Greatest Hits (Motley Records) #174 3,000 sold
This puts the Crue up over 100,000 sold of this greatest hits album.

Ratt, Infestation (Loud & Proud) # 191 2,700 sold
Up to about 25,000 sold, which isn’t bad. But at #191, they probably won’t be “back for more” next week.

Mike Patton, Mondo Cane (Ipecac) 1,200 sold
This is probably the only album to appear on both the Metal By Numbers recap and the Classical charts.

We Came As Romans, To Plant A Seed (Equal Vision) 900 sold
They sell just about as many as they did last week.

War Of Ages, Eternal (Facedown) 830 sold
A nice 6% increase.

Brian Posehn, Fart & Wiener Jokes (Relapse) 700 sold
This will probably hit 5,000 sold next week in its 4th week. Considering all it cost to record the album was a microphone, that seems pretty solid.

Veil Of Maya, ID (Sumerian) 600 sold
I’m waiting for the Veil of Maya tribute band called Fake ID.

Avantasia, The Wicked Symphony (Nuclear Blast) 570 sold
I don’t know why, but that album title sounds like an ICP one to me.

Periphery, Periphery (Sumerian) 570 sold
A solid 7,000 sold, which is even solider (more solid?) when you consider that Misha “Bulb” Mansoor owns his masters and licenses the album to five different labels.

2Cents, Dress To Kill (Eight O Five)  500 sold
The bands’ recent tours with Korn and Five Finger Death Punch have helped bring their third album back to life (even if just for a bit). Their terrible cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole,” on the other hand, made us want to boycott them.