OutKast's double-disc "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" jumped three places to return to the No. 1 slot on the U.S. pop albums chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan data issued Wednesday.
Sales of the Grammy-nominated opus rose 12% to 374,000 units in the week ended Dec. 28, giving the set a 14-week sales total of 3.1 million. The Arista release has topped the chart on three separate occasions.
The next three albums, led by the previous week's No. 1, "The Diary of Alicia Keys (news)," each slipped one place. Keys' J Records release saw a small sales increase to 371,000 copies for the week, taking its four-week total to 1.7 million.
Toby Keith (news)'s "Shock'n Y'all" (DreamWorks) came in at No. 3 on a 15% decrease to sales of 314,000 copies, followed by the 14th volume in the "NOW That's What I Call Music!" series (Universal/EMI/Zomba/Sony), which also suffered a 15% drop to 302,000 copies. Their respective totals rose to 2.3 million and 2.0 million.
"The Very Best of Sheryl Crow (news)" (A&M) climbed two spots to No. 5 in its 8th week despite a 4% sales decrease to 256,000 copies; its total stands at almost 1.5 million.
Josh Groban (news)'s "Closer" (Warner Bros.) suffered a 21% drop to sales of 250,000 copies in its 7th week, but slipped only one spot to No. 6. Hilary Duff (news)'s "Metamorphosis" (Buena Vista), fell one place to No. 7 in its 18th week on a 10% sales slip to 246,000. Their respective totals stand at 1.8 million and 2.4 million.
No Doubt's "The Singles 1992-2003" (Interscope) rose one spot to No. 8 despite an 8% sales drop to 217,000 copies. After five weeks, it has sold one million copies.
Ruben Studdard's former No. 1, "Soulful" (J Records), dropped one place to No. 9 on a 14% decrease to 211,000 copies; its three-week haul rose to 873,000 copies.
Britney Spears (news)' "In the Zone" (Jive) jumped three places to No. 10 amid steady sales of 205,000 copies. Its total rose to 1.6 million copies.
The top debut was Juvenile's "Juve the Great" (Cash Money) at No. 32. Other notable bows included the soundtrack to "You Got Served" (Epic, No. 34), David Banner's "MTA2: Baptized in Dirty Water" (Universal, No. 77) and the Bravehearts' "Bravehearted" (Ill Will/Columbia, No. 82).
