McGraw’s ‘Live’ Powers To No. 1 (original) (raw)

Grabbing the best country debut of the year on The Billboard 200, Tim McGraw opens atop the chart with U.S. sales of 766,000 copies of his Curb set "Live Like You Were Dying," according to Nielsen…

Grabbing the best country debut of the year on The Billboard 200, Tim McGraw opens atop the chart with U.S. sales of 766,000 copies of his Curb set “Live Like You Were Dying,” according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The country superstar’s third No. 1 on The Billboard 200 also tops Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart this week with the fifth biggest debut for a country album in the Nielsen SoundScan era.

Three urban acts debut in the next three slots on The Billboard 200, led by R. Kelly’s latest Jive/Zomba album “Happy People/U Saved Me.” The set opened with 403,000 units, behind last year’s “Chocolate Factory,” which bowed with 532,000 and has sold 2.7 million to date.

G-Unit’s newest member, Young Buck, opens at No. 3 with 261,000 copies sold of his Interscope debut, “Straight Outta Ca$hville.” The Nashville native debuts just shy of fellow members 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks, who both bowed atop The Billboard 200 with their solo debuts, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” and “The Hunger for More,” respectively.

Rapper Mase’s first Bad Boy album since 1999, “Welcome Back,” lands at No. 4 with 188,000 units. His last album since retiring to become a minister, “Double Up,” bowed at No. 11 with 107,000 copies, while his 1997 debut opened at No. 1 with 273,000 and has moved 3.2 million to date.

The rest of the album chart’s top tier falls this week with the exception of Big & Rich, who hold at No. 10 on a 6% incline to 67,000 copies with their Warner Bros. debut, “Horse of a Different Color.”

Last week’s chart-topper, the 16th installment of “NOW That’s What I Call Music” (Universal/EMI/Sony Music/Zomba), falls to No. 5 on a 10% decline to 187,000 copies, but manages to beat out Ashlee Simpson’s “Autobiography” once again. The pop/rock ingenue’s Geffen debut falls 2-6 on a 19% drop to 134,000.

Prince slides 3-7 with “Musicology (NPG/Columbia), sales of which dropped 21% to 79,000 copies. Rounding out the top 10, Maroon5’s “Songs About Jane” (Octone/J) drops 6-8 on a 3% fall to 70,000 and Usher’s “Confessions” (LaFace/Zomba) is down 5-9 with a 13% decline to 68,000 copies.

Miami rapper Pitbull is TVT’s latest Dirty South debut at No. 14 on the chart with 55,000 copies of “M.I.A.M.I. (Money is a Major Issue)” The crunk/Latin reggaeton mix features labelmate Lil Jon on first single “Culo.”

Cam’Ron and Chico DeBarge contribute to rapper Jim Jones’ debut “The Diplomats Present Jim Jones: On My Way to Church,” which enters at No. 18 with 44,000 copies.

Also debuting this week are 12 Stones’ “Potter’s Field” (Wind-Up) at No. 29, the Rolling Stones’ “The Best of the Rolling Stones: Jump Back – ’71 to ’93” (Virgin) at No. 30, Jason Mraz’s CD/DVD set “Tonight Not Again/Live at Eagles Ballroom” (Elektra/Asylum) at No. 49 and Boyz II Men’s “Throwback” (Koch/MSM Music Group) at No. 52.

Shooting to No. 25 on a 90% sales gain to 33,000 copies, Epic’s “Garden State” soundtrack becomes The Billboard 200’s Greatest Gainer in its third week on the chart. As last week’s Pacesetter, the set — which features Coldplay, the Shins, Remy Zero and vintage Simon & Garfunkel — moved 125-71 despite no radio airplay, though Frou Frou’s “Let Go” moves 10 notches to No. 34 on Billboard’s Hot Digital Tracks chart this week with 4,000 downloads.

Overall U.S. album sales are up again, with a 10.5% gain from last week to 12 million units, about 9% ahead of the same week last year. Sales for 2004 are beating those of last year by a 7% margin with 409 million units.

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