Now 17 Reigns Supreme
Now That’s What I Call Music! 17, the latest hits collection featuring Black Eyed Peas, Beastie Boys and Ashlee Simpson, sold 407,000 copies this past week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to top the charts. A Perfect Circle debuted at Number Two, selling 142,000 copies of their third album, eMOTIVe, featuring covers of John Lennon, Joni Mitchell and Depeche Mode. The metal men’s last effort, Thirteenth Step, also debuted at the Two spot.
With no other major debuts this week, the Top Ten is a reshuffling of long-standing blockbusters Nelly’s Suit at Number Three (118,000), Usher’s Confessions at Number Four (115,000) and George Strait’s collection of country hits 50 Number Ones (94,000) at Number Six. Ray Charles is landing a one-two punch to the charts, with both his posthumous album Genius Loves Company and the soundtrack to the Charles biopic Ray up one to Number Seven (83,000) and Number Nine (81,000), respectively.
Canadian pop-punkers Simple Plan’s sophomore effort, Still Not Getting Any…, fell eight places from its Number Three debut to exit the Top Ten, moving a mere 68,000 units. And Grammy winner Michael McDonald’s Motown Two, the follow-up to his million-selling collection of Sixties hits dropped twelve places from Nine to Twenty-One (36,000). Also short-lived was the first-week dominance of troubled couple, R. Kelly and Jay-Z: Their second collaboration, Unfinished Business, fell from the top spot to Number Ten (71,000).
Next week, expect New York rappers Fabolous and Ja Rule’s respective new CDs, Real Talk and R.U.L.E., to break into the Top Ten. And with the recent success of veteran rockers, look for a strong debut from Elton John’s Peachtree Road.
This week’s Top Ten: Now That’s What I Call Music! 17; A Perfect Circle’s eMOTIVe; Nelly’s Suit; Usher’s Confessions; Rod Stewart’s Stardust . . . The Great American Songbook: Volume III; George Strait’s 50 Number Ones; Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company; Trick Daddy’s Thug Matrimony; Ray original soundtrack; R. Kelly and Jay-Z’s Unfinished Business.