Well, Merge Records' stay in the chart penthouse didn't last long, but the Durham-based label didn't fall too far down the Billboard 200 album sales chart. After debuting at No. 1, Arcade Fire's Merge release "Suburbs" has dropped to No. 2 -- behind Detroit rapper Eminem, who reclaims the top spot.

Meantime, Duke University alumnus Mike Posner is also in the top-10 with his debut album, "31 Minutes to Takeoff." It debuts not far behind Arcade Fire, at No. 8. The Posner album's first single "Cooler Than Me" is also hanging in at No. 6 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.

Duke alumnus Mike Posner titled his major-label debut album "31 Minutes To Take Off," which seems odd because it's a lot longer than 31 minutes long. But Posner did have something quite specific in mind when he picked that number.

"Something happens 31 minutes into the album," Posner said in a recent interview. "It's at the end of the song 'Synthesizer,' and the last couple of tracks after that tell the story. I can tell you that I and the listener will be in the highest space after that."

For the record, "Synthesizer" concludes with the sound of a jet plane taking off -- not unlike Posner's career right now, thanks to his top-10 single "Cooler Than Me." For more about Posner's collegiate past in the Triangle, check this interview from Tuesday's paper; and if you want to hear Posner's album, it's streaming here.

Buzz is building for Duke alumnus Mike Posner's debut album, "31 Minutes to Takeoff" (J Records), which has already yielded a top-10 single in advance of its Aug. 10 release date. But you can get an early listen at Posner's MySpace, which will stream the album beginning at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.