50 Cent still tops on charts
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NEW YORK (Variety) -- The batting order remained unchanged on this week's album charts, as rap juggernaut 50 Cent maintained his stranglehold on the top slot, but next week promises big changes with major releases from Linkin Park and Celine Dion on deck.
"Get Rich or Die Tryin' " (Interscope/Aftermath), 50 Cent's blockbuster debut, scanned 234,000 units, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. That's down 16 percent from the prior frame, but more than enough to keep second-place finisher Norah Jones at bay for another week.
Jones' "Come Away With Me" (Blue Note) sold just under 176,000 copies -- a decline of 28 percent from the previous session.
R&B crooner R. Kelly kept his place at third with "Chocolate Factory" (Jive), selling 105,000 discs.
But the longtime chart leaders are likely to be pushed aside in the next outing by rap-rock giants Linkin Park, whose latest disc, "Meteora" (Warner Bros.), hit retail shelves Tuesday and could sell into seven figures in its debut week.
Also on the way is the new disc from French-Canadian songstress Dion, "One Heart" (Epic), which is a near lock on the No. 2 spot. Dion, who recently bowed multimillion-dollar Las Vegas extravaganza "A New Day," sold a half-million copies of her previous album in its first week.
This time around, the only chart excitement to be had came from discs associated with the big winners at Sunday's Oscar ceremony. The soundtrack to Miramax musical "Chicago," for example, moved up two places to fourth, as sales inched up 3 percent to 96,000 units. (The data cover the week through March 23, the day of the Academy Awards, when the film won six prizes.)
The only new releases to crack the top 50 this week came from very different ends of the demographic spectrum.
Orange County rap-punk combo (Hed) Planet Earth landed at No. 33 with its third effort, "Blackout" (Jive), with 28,000 units sold, while the Allman Brothers Band's "Hittin' the Note" (Sanctuary) hit No. 37 with 25,000 copies and religious compilation "Wow Worship: Yellow" (BMG) scanned 21,000 discs, placing 44th.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
