For the first time in his 14-year career, Common tops The Billboard 200 with “Finding Forever.” The Geffen set, which features production from Kanye West and a guest appearance by Lily Allen, moved 155,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Common’s 2005 effort, “Be,” debuted and peaked at No. 2 but had a better sales tally with 185,000.

T.I.’s “T.I. vs. T.I.P.” (Grand Hustle/Atlantic) falls 5-8 this week with 55,000 (-14%), while Fergie’s “The Dutchess” (will.i.am/A&M/Interscope) dips 6-9 with 53,000, a 1% sales increase. Linkin Park’s “Minutes to Midnight” (Machine Shop/Warner Bros.) closes out the top tier, sliding 8-10 with 44,000 (+4%).

Other big debuts this week include Virgin rock troupe the Starting Line’s “Direction” at No. 30 with 20,000, “American Idol” finalist Mandisa’s debut “True Beauty” (Sparrow/EMI) at No. 43 with 17,000, Roadrunner metal act DevilDriver’s “Last Kind Words” at No. 48 with 14,000 and rapper Keith Murray’s fifth solo set “Rap-Murr-Phobia” (Def Squad/Koch) at No. 52 with 13,000.

Sales this week are up 3.8% compared to last week’s sum at 8.27 million units and down 9.6% compared to the same week last year. There have been 271.25 million album sales to date for the year, down 14.2% compared to last year’s sum.