Congratulations to The Black Keys: the band's new album, El Camino, out now on Nonesuch Records, debuted this week at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 with sales of 206,000 units in the United States—far and away the band’s best single-week performance and their highest chart position to date! By comparison, the band’s previous best week was for Brothers, which debuted in May 2010 with sales of 73,000 units. The band will embark on the first leg of their US tour this March, with shows in arenas like Boston’s TD Garden, Chicago’s United Center, and New York City’s Madison Square Garden, which sold out in 15 minutes, resulting in the swift addition of a second concert. Special guests Arctic Monkeys open on the tour. For all of the current tour dates and ticket links, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.

To pick up a copy of El Camino, head to iTunes, Amazon, The Black Keys store, and the Nonesuch Store, where CDs and LPs are now 34% off and include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout.

In anticipation of the release, the duo recently joined Steve Buscemi on the December 2 episode of Saturday Night Live. This was the band’s second time this year as musical guests on the show, a “rare distinction,” says Rolling Stone. Other recent television appearances include The Colbert Report and the Late Show with David Letterman. Produced by Danger Mouse and The Black Keys, El Camino was recorded in the band’s new hometown of Nashville during the spring of 2011. In advance of the release, the album’s first single, “Lonely Boy,” was released in October, to acclaim from fans and press; the song has been climbing the radio charts rapidly and is currently at #1 on the Alternative and AAA charts. Additionally, the accompanying video has been viewed nearly four million times on YouTube.

Describing the sound of the album, drummer Patrick Carney tells Rolling Stone, “Every record, we figure out the mood and stick with that. With Brothers, we were listening to a lot of hip-hop and old R&B and drawing from that. This is the first record we’ve made where it’s all rock & roll.” And in an interview with Spin magazine Auerbach says, “I’ve never been into guitar solos. I really like when every instrument in the band is a rhythm instrument. This record has a lot of that going on—guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards all working together as a rhythm instrument. But unlike Brothers, which has more of these slower songs with an open feeling, [the new LP] is definitely fast.”

El Camino follows the most successful two years in The Black Keys’ career. In May 2010 they released their breakthrough album, Brothers. It won three Grammy Awards and an MTV Video Music Award, and topped numerous year-end lists. Brothers, which included the hit singles “Tighten Up” and “Howlin’ for You,” has been certified Gold in the US and UK and Platinum in Canada. Worldwide sales are now over one million and counting.