iTunes charts

iTUNES CHARTS: A youth movement is underway on both charts, with the debuting albums from Columbia’s Earl Sweatshirt (19) and RCA’s A$AP Ferg (24) playing a heated game of one-on-one, winners out. (Check out the lead entry in the just-posted Trakin Care of Business for one Jew’s view of the two young MCs.) Meanwhile, on the singles side, though Katy’s “Roar” from the roof of the Capitol Tower remains deafening, it can’t drown out the sounds of a pair of smashes in progress from another pair of young stars: Island/IDJ’s Avicii (23) and Lava/Republic’s Lorde (16). (Roy’s got a take on “Royals” too.) The New Zealand newcomer is so hot that her EP also continues to sell briskly leading up of her 9/30 album release. If new talent is the lifeblood of the industry (a maxim we parroted earlier this week), then the industry’s heartbeat is particularly strong as Q4 approaches. (8/23a)