With a margin of only a few hundred copies, “NOW 22” returned to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop albums charts Wednesday, preventing rapper DMX from posting his sixth consecutive chart-topper.
The multi-label hits package rose one place to No. 1 after selling 127,000 units in the week ended August 6, according to Nielsen Soundscan. It has spent three non-consecutive weeks at the top.
DMX’s “Year of the Dog … Again” followed with 126,000 copies (figures are rounded), the lowest opening week sales tally of his career.
“Kidz Bop 10” debuted at No. 3 with 117,000, the third album in the series to crack the top 10. “Kidz Bop 9” notched the line’s previous best debut, when it bowed with 98,000 at No. 2. The kid-friendly compilation features children singing hits like Madonna’s “Hung Up” and Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day.”
“Come What(ever) May” by rock band Stone Sour entered at No. 4 with 81,000 copies, and replaced Tom Petty’s “Highway Companion” atop the Rock Albums chart. Fronted by Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, the group first entered the big chart in 2002 at No. 46 with its self-titled debut.
After entering at No. 1 last week, former Destiny’s Child chanteuse LeToya Luckett’s self-titled Capitol effort fell to No. 5 with 65,000 copies. Petty’s “Highway Companion” slipped two places to No. 6 with 57,000. In its 13th week on the chart, Gnarls Barkley’s “St. Elsewhere” fell two to No. 7 with 53,000.
Five For Fighting’s fourth record, “Two Lights,” earned the group its highest chart debut at No. 7. Moving 52,000, the set surpasses the John Ondrasik-led group’s previous best, which was the 50,000-copy start of 2004’s “The Battle For Everything” (No. 20).
The solo debut from Pharrell Williams, “In My Mind,” tumbled six places to No. 9 with 51,000. After 44 weeks on the chart, Canadian rock band Nickelback’s “All the Right Reasons” re-entered the top 10 at No. 10 with 44,000 copies.
Other big debuts included G. Love’s “G. Love’s Lemonade,” at No. 39 with 19,000 (his best week ever). The Pink Spiders’ major label debut, “Teenage Graffiti” bowed at No. 84 with 11,000.
At 9.2 million, overall CD sales were up less than 1% from last week and down 13% compared to the same week a year ago. Sales for 2006 are down 6% compared to 2005 at 316.1 million units.
Reuters/Billboard