Em’s “Encore” Back on Top
Holiday shoppers stuffed enough stockings with Eminem‘s Encore this week to bounce the rapper back to Number One (430,000), according to Nielsen SoundScan. This is the album’s third non-consecutive week at the top since its November release. Eminem takes the place of Tupac’s posthumous Loyal to the Game (produced by Slim Shady himself), which falls from the top spot down to Number Thirteen (219,000).
Hits compilation Now That’s What I Call Music! 17 holds strong at Number Two (356,000), as the no-brainer holiday gift, and U2’s blockbuster How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb moves back up two places to take Number Three (350,000). Rounding out the Top Five are Destiny’s Child’s Destiny Fulfilled, up two to Number Four (350,000), and runaway country star Shania Twain’s Greatest Hits, down one to Five (347,000).
Now that it’s returned to the Top Ten, Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s mash-up record, Collision Course, shows no signs of leaving, coming in this week at Eight, with 283,000 copies sold. Also enjoying a holiday rebound are Green Day’s American Idiot and Ludacris’ The Red Light District, which moved up four spots to Number Nine (282,000) and two to Number Ten (258,000), respectively.
The artist not under as many Christmas trees as expected this week was Ashanti, whose Concrete Rose debuted at Number Seven last week only to plummet fifteen spots to Twenty-Two, with a meager 190,000 units moved during the holiday madness.
Next week, look to see if R&B singer and pianist (and Kanye West protege) John Legend appeals to more than the critics with his solo debut, Get Lifted. But with no other major releases this week, expect this season’s usual suspects to continue shuffling places in the Top Ten.
This week’s Top Ten: Eminem’s Encore; Now That’s What I Call Music! 17; U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb; Destiny’s Child’s Destiny Fulfilled; Shania Twain’s Greatest Hits; Usher’s Confessions; Toby Keith’s Greatest Hits 2; Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s Collision Course; Green Day’s American Idiot; Ludacris’ The Red Light District.