With the events that have unfolded at the top of the Billboard 200 thus far in 2007, this year may very well be remembered as the year independent music officially infiltrated the mainstream. Following the lead of fellow indie-rockers the Shins—whose third LP, Wincing The Night Away (Sub Pop), debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in January—Montreal's Arcade Fire can now count themselves among the heaviest of heavy-hitters as well. Their sophomore album, Neon Bible (Merge), moved 92,000 copies in its first week, landing the band that same No. 2 spot, trailing only the latest posthumous release, Greatest Hits (Bad Boy), from the Notorious B.I.G. Christina Rentz, a regional press director for at Merge, told CMJ that everyone there was just as surprised. "We worked really hard and hoped for the best, but how can you expect it?" Rentz said. "[It's just a] great record by a band that people are very excited about and it all boils down to that." Funeral, the band's much-aggrandized debut LP, was released in 2004 and never reached higher than 131 on the charts, but on the strength of their live shows (the band was introduced to the music world at the '04 CMJ Music Marathon, and memorably followed that up at '05's Marathon with special guest David Bowie), they developed a rapid fan base that includes such musical luminaries as David Byrne and David Bowie. And considering that the only thing between the Arcade Fire and the No. 1 spot is a guy who's been dead for 10 years, we can say, without argument, that they are in fact the hottest band in music right now. www.arcadefire.com
