The California metalheads narrowly ended the five-week run of former champion Eminem, whose blockbuster 'Recovery' still stands high above the rest of the crowd at No. 2 with 159,000 copies sold.
The stiff competition has to make this achievement extra rewarding for Avenged Sevenfold, who overcame the unexpected death of their founding drummer, James 'The Rev' Sullivan, late last year. The band included as many of his final songwriting and recorded contributions as possible on the new album, as a tribute to their friend.
'Nightmare' was also the only new album to reach the Top 10 this week, leaving a long list of returning titles to jostle for the remaining spots on our countdown. First up is rapper Rick Ross, whose fourth album, 'Teflon Don' drops one spot to No. 3 with sales of 63,000. Based on his lyrics and impressive size, we're glad we don't have to be the ones to tell him this slightly bad news.
We are considerably less scared to tell Justin Bieber that he's moved up two spots to No. 4 by selling 38,000 copies of 'My World 2.0.' Also helping rap music keep it's stranglehold on the top of the charts with three of the top five sellers, is Drake at No. 5 with 'Thank Me Later,' moving another 34,000 records.
Country trio Lady Antebellum, who had briefly fallen off the chart, continue to march right back up, this week jumping two spots to No. 7 with 'Need You Now' racking up another 27,000 sales. Sheryl Crow, who made an impressive debut in the third spot last week, drops 5 positions to No. 8 with 24,000 copies of '100 Miles From Memphis.' Ladies night continues with Lady Gaga's 'The Fame' ringing up 24,000 more units to hit No. 9.
A couple of compilations round out our list this week. First up is 'Kidz Bop 18,' at No. 6 with 29,000 sold, and last but we can't say least, the 'Now 34' compilation moves 22,000 copies to hang on at No. 10.