Josh Groban’s “Noel” led the U.S. pop album charts for a third week Wednesday, tying Elvis Presley as the record-holder for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 with a Christmas album. Now in its ninth week of release, “Noel” moved 581,000 units in the period ended December 9, according to Nielsen SoundScan, an 8% boost over the previous frame. Presley’s “Elvis’ Christmas Album,” meanwhile, ruled the charts for three weeks in 1957.
Alicia Keys’ “As I Am” rose one to No. 2 with 234,000 copies, swapping places with the Eagles’ “Long Road Out of Eden,” which sold 204,000. The multi-artist “Now 26” held at No. 4 with 158,000.
Miley Cyrus’ Disney double-disc set “Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus” rose two to No. 5 in its 24th week with 132,000. Another Disney sequel set, “High School Musical 2,” was No. 6 for a third week with 128,000.
Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride” rose two to No. 7 with 107,000 copies. Garth Brooks’ Pearl set “The Ultimate Hits” fell three to No. 5 with 105,000.
Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut rebounded three places to No. 9 with 99,000. The 17-year-old country singer earned a best new artist Grammy nomination last week.
This year’s “American Idol” runner-up, Blake Lewis, started at No. 10 with his debut album, “Audio Day Dream,” moving 98,000. The tally and ranking are lower than those of three other “AI” runner-ups’ debuts (Clay Aiken, Bo Bice and Katharine McPhee), but larger than two others (Justin Guarini and Diana DeGarmo).
Other big debuts included Houston rapper Scarface’s “Made” at No. 17, Trace Adkins’ “American Man: Greatest Hits Volume II” at No. 22, Drama’s “Gangsta Grillz: The Album” at No. 26, Wyclef Jean’s “Carnival Vol. II: Memories of an Immigrant” at No. 28, rock band Godsmack’s hits compilation “Good Times, Bad Times… Ten Years of Godsmack” at No. 35, and Ghostface Killah’s “The Big Doe Rehab” at No. 41.
Sales this week (14.45 million units) tumbled 23.3% from the same week last year (18.86 million), but were up 17.9% from last week (12.26 million).