U2’s ‘Atomic Bomb’ dismantles competitors

U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” devastated the competition in this week’s album sales race, capturing the No. 1 spot by selling 840,000 copies in its first week in stores, Nielsen SoundScan reported Wednesday.

Like several other recent releases, the Interscope album benefited from deep discounting in stores as some mass retailers lowered prices well below the wholesale cost to lure customers during the highly competitive post-Thanksgiving weekend.

The CD, which also benefited from glowing reviews and huge TV exposure for the album’s “Vertigo” single in Apple’s iPod campaign, doubled the first-week total registered by U2’s previous album, 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.”

“Bomb’s” success -- it’s the third-highest opening-week total of the year -- ended a two-week hold on the No. 1 spot by another high-profile Interscope release, Eminem’s “Encore.” The rapper’s CD sold 471,000 copies last week, bringing its three-week total to 2.1 million.

Two other new releases, Gwen Stefani’s “Love.Angel.Music.Baby.,” and Fantasia’s “Free Yourself,” broke into the Top 10. Stefani’s first solo album sold 309,000 copies to finish No. 7, while the “American Idol” star’s CD sold 240,000 copies for eighth place.

In the holiday rush, Usher’s “Confessions,” the year’s biggest seller, sold 183,000 more copies to push its total past the 7 million mark.