"Now" Wows McGraw, McBride, Duff

E! Online, Apr 11, 2007 10:40 am PDT
Nasvhille's big Macs couldn't serve up enough customers to keep the latest installment of Now That's What I Call Music! from the top of the food chain.

For the week ended Sunday, Now! 24 sold 213,000 copies to lead album sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, holding off high-profile releases from Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Hilary Duff and Timbaland.

A week earlier, McGraw's Let It Go edged out Now! 24 for number one, but in their second week out, Let It Go experienced a 46 percent drop in sales while Now! 24 only dipped 7 percent to leapfrog over the former chart-topper. This is the 11th installment in the pop hits compilation series to reach number one.

Let It Go finished in second with 177,000 copies.

Country queen McBride was on their trail, but her new album Waking Up Laughing never caught up, settling for a third-place opening with 144,000 in sales.

Duff's Dignity entered at number four with 140,000, giving her bragging rights over ex-boyfriend Joel Madden of Good Charlotte, whose Good Morning Revival sold 66,000 to open at number seven last week.

The former Lizzie McGuire star released the CD's first single, "Play with Fire," late last summer,  when the album was slated for 2006 release. But production bogged down and Duff had scheduling conflicts with her movie work, pushing the release back. Her current single is "With Love."

Timbaland, the producer who recently helped Justin Timberlake bring sexy back, and helped Nelly Furtado bring her career back, debuted at five, selling 138,000 copies of Timbaland Presents Shock Value. Fittingly, the disc features both Timberlake and Furtado on its lead single, "Give It To Me." But Timbaland didn't just stick to hip-hop and dance pop; Shock Value also includes tracks with the Hives, She Wants Revenge, Elton John and Fall Out Boy.

Leave it to Beyoncé to celebrate her birthday twice. Her B'Day rocketed 63 positions to number six with the new Latinized deluxe edition. The new version, which moved 126,000 copies (up from 13,000 the previous week), features the Latin hit "Imprescindible" with Shakira, a Spanish-language version of Knowles' Hot 100 chart-topper "Irreplaceable." In interviews, the singer noted that her Latin influences come from being raised in Houston, a city with a large Hispanic population.

Speaking of H-Town, native son and orthodontics enthusiast Paul Wall saw his Get Money, Stay True sell 92,000 copies to open at eight.

Bluegrass star Alison Krauss, the winner of a remarkable 20 Grammys, roped in fifth and final Top 10 bow as A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection sold 73,000 copies in the 10 spot. The new disc compiles her collaborations with other artists like Brad Paisley and James Taylor.

Just outside the Top 10, Alan Jackson, George Strait and Jimmy Buffett's Live at Texas Stadium sold 66,000 copies at 11, while hard rockers Chevelle sold 62,000 copies of Vena Sera at 12. Blue Collar comedian Larry the Cable Guy finished at 16, selling 56,000 of Morning Constitutions.

Other noteworthy debuts included Kings of Leon's Because of the Times at 25, the Academy Is...'s Santi at 32, Static-X's Cannibal at 36, the Almost's Southern Weather at 39 and Shadows Fall's Threads of Life at 46.

Sales were up 16 percent from the previous week, though still down more than 5 percent compared to the same sales week last year.

Here's a rundown of the Top 10 albums:

1. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 24, various

2. Let It Go, Tim McGraw

3. Waking Up Laughing, Martina McBride

4. Dignity, Hilary Duff

5. Timbaland Presents Shock Value, Timbaland

6. B'Day, Beyoncé

7. Daughtry, Daughtry

8. Get Money, Stay True, Paul Wall

9. Konvicted, Akon10. A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection, Alison Krauss

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