Keith Sweat News

A trip to "The Red Light District" scored Ludacris his second consecutive No. 1 album on the U.S. pop charts Wednesday.

The Atlanta rapper/actor's fourth Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam South effort sold 322,000 copies in the week ended Dec. 12, enough to end the one-week reign of Jay-Z and Linkin Park's "Collision Course," which tumbled to No. 9 after selling 186,000 copies.

Ludacris' last effort, "Chicken-N-Beer," bowed atop the Billboard 200 last year with 430,000 copies, and remained in the top-10 for five weeks. The set has sold 2.5 million copies to date, but his best seller remains 2001's "Word of Mouf," with 3.4 million copies.

Earlier this year, Ludacris enjoyed a 12-week stint at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart as a guest (and co-writer) on Usher's Grammy-nominated "Yeah!" which also featured Lil Jon. The trio has its eyes on the top again as Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz' "Lovers and Friends" (featuring Ludacris and Usher) moved up three to No. 7 on that tally last week.

The top-10 contained one other new entry: Lindsay Lohan's full-length debut, "Speak" (Casablanca/Universal), bowed at No. 4 with 261,000 units -- better than the 192,000 start for her nemesis Hilary Duff's self-titled effort in October.

U2's "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (Interscope) was No. 2 for a second week with 280,000 copies, taking its three-week total to 1.4 million, about twice what its previous album "All That You Can't Leave Behind," had sold at the same stage in 2000.

Eminem 's "Encore" (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope), meanwhile, rose one to No. 3 with 273,000 copies. Its tally stands at 2.6 million after five weeks. At the same time in its cycle, 2003's "The Eminem Show" had sold 3.3 million copies.

With the exception of the Jay-Z/Linkin Park effort, all holdovers in the top 10 enjoyed a sales boost from the previous week, beginning with the 17th installment of "NOW That's What I Call Music!" (Sony BMG/Universal/EMI/Zomba/Capitol), which jumped three to No. 5 with 243,000 copies.

Shania Twain's "Greatest Hits" (Mercury Nashville) was No. 6 for a second week with 237,000 copies, while Destiny's Child's "Destiny Fulfilled" (Sony Urban Music/Columbia) jumped two to No. 7 with 214,000. Toby Keith's "Greatest Hits 2" (DreamWorks Nashville/Interscope) rose two to No. 8 with 191,000 copies.

Clay Aiken 's "Merry Christmas With Love" (RCA) jumped three to No. 10 with 181,000 copies.

Though the No. 13 entry for Mario's "Turning Point" (J) wasn't his highest chart debut, he scored his best sales week with 161,000 units. The R&B artist's 2002 self-titled debut entered at No. 9 with 91,000 copies; it has sold 587,000 to date.

New York rapper Cam'ron bowed at No. 20 with his second Roc-A-Fella album, "Purple Haze." While the set sold 123,000 copies, 2002's "Come Home With Me" started at No. 2 with 226,000 copies and has sold 1.1 million to date.

Third-season "American Idol" runner-up Diana DeGarmo posted a No. 52 opening with her RCA debut "Blue Skies," which sold 47,000 copies.

Overall U.S. album sales were significantly better than the previous week, up 22% at 21.8 million units, but 11% lower than the same week last year. Sales for the year are beating those of 2003 by about 2% with 605 million units.

Reuters/Billboard