Canadian pop singer Avril Lavigne went to No. 1 on both the album and singles charts in the United States, her label said yesterday. Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing, debuted at No.
1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 286,358 copies in the week ended April 22. The tally fell far short of the 380,500 No. 1 start for her previous release, 2004's Under My Skin, but all artists have been affected by a prolonged slide in album sales.
The first single from the new album, Girlfriend, jumped two places to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart, according to RCA Records. RCA also said The Best Damn Thing has sold more than 1.
5 million copies internationally and debuted at No. 1 in 11 countries, including the U.K.
, Japan, Canada and Germany.
