The Civil Wars Top the Charts

The Civil Wars may never tour again, given that the members of the folk-rock duo have not spoken to each other in months, but their second studio album still topped the Billboard 200 chart this week, selling 116,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

That was a bittersweet achievement for the duo, Joy Williams and John Paul White, who have won three Grammy Awards over the last two years. Last November, the pair canceled a European tour and “went on hiatus,” saying in a statement they could not work together because of “internal discord and irreconcilable differences of ambition.”

But the core tracks of the album, also titled “The Civil Wars,” (Sensibility Music/Columbia), had been recorded by the duo in Nashville just before they split up, and the producer Charlie Peacock finished them last winter with studio musicians. Ms. Williams said in a recent interview the duo had no plans to reunite for a concert, much less a tour. “I wish more than anything I could give clear answers about if this band is going to stay on hiatus or not,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with the band.”

Last week’s No. 1 album, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” (Interscope Records), fell to No. 3 on the chart with sales of 65,000. In second place, with 82,000 albums sold, was “Now 47,” a compilation of recent pop hits. Jay Z’s “Magna Carta …Holy Grail” (Roc Nation) remained in the Top 10 at No 4. No. 5 was the soundtrack of “Teen Beach Movie” (Disney). The rock band Asking Alexandria’s latest album “From Death to Destiny” (Sumerian) entered the chart at No. 6 in its first week of release. Imagine Dragons “Night Visions” (Interscope Records) was at No. 7, thanks in part to a sale on iTunes.

The gospel singer Tye Tribbett scored his first Top 10 album with “Greater Than,” (EMI Gospel/Motown Gospel)which sold 30,000 copies, enough to place it ninth on the chart. Florida Georgia Line’s juggernaut album “Here’s to the Good Times” (Republic Nashville) remained at No. 10.

Over on the single’s chart, Mr. Thicke reigned as king of the Top 10 for the 10th week in a row, as “Blurred Lines,” his smash hit with T.I. and Pharrell Williams, remained in the first slot. The rest of the Top 10 also remained unchanged from the previous week, with Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop” at No. 2, Imagine Dragon’s “Radioactive” at No. 3, Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” at No. 4, Jay Z’s “Holy Grail” at No. 5.

The next five hits were, in order, Anna Kendrick’s “Cups (Pitch Perfect’s When I’m Gone)”, “Bruno Mars’s “Treasure,” Zedd’s “Clarity,” Capital Cities’s “Safe and Sound,” and Maroon 5’s “Love Somebody.”