LIGHTNING STRIKES!

Brothers and sisters, let us rock.

Monkeywrench/Republic’s guitar-cranking, flannel-flying standard bearers Pearl Jam have the #1 album in the land this week, topping the HITS Album Sales Chart with 169k. We have to admit, the success of a record full of amped-up power chords makes us feel young again.

Well, that feeling didn’t last long. Still: Kudos!

The last release from the Seattle band, 2009’s Backspacer, moved 189k in its first week and has sold 635k to date.

RCA’s Miley Cyrus, who topped the chart last week, comes in at #2, moving another 73k copies of her Bangerz (-73%).

Pearl Jam is joined in the Top 5 by two other debuts, Hear Music’s Paul McCartney (#3, 66k) and American/Republic’s The Avett Brothers (#4, 56k). The 71-year-old Cute Beatle’s 2012 release, Kisses on the Bottom, bowed with 74k and has sold 265k RTD. The Avetts’ The Carpenter, which also hit retail last year, debuted with 98k and is now at 317k.

With Drake holding #5 at 56k (-30%), Republic has three of the five records at the top of the chart; add #7 Lorde (46k, down just 20%) and the House of Lipman holds four of the Top 10. Just sayin’.

Also bowing in the Top 10: Mercury Nashville/19/Interscope’s Scotty McCreery (#6, 50k), Legacy’s Willie Nelson (#8, 42k) and Sub Pop’s Head and the Heart (#9, 38k).

Rounding out the Top 10 is Warner Bros’ Cher with 37k; the perennial superstar is also the week’s biggest gainer, climbing 15%.

Still feel like geeking out over the chart stats? Head over here and get your math on.

Streeting today: Capitol’s Katy Perry, the multi-faceted rollout of whose PRISM is chronicled in some detail in this story, Epic’s Fifth Harmony and Republic’s AFI.

Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re gonna roll a fatty, crank up the speakers and destroy what remains of our hearing.