System of a Down's Hypnotize, the companion album to their top-selling Mezmerize, took the Number One spot this week, selling 320,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While this is a weaker showing than the previous release -- Mezmerize sold 130,000 more CDs in its first week out in May -- this is potent proof of the Los Angeles metal band's strong fan base.
While last week's Number One, Madonna's club-ready Confessions on a Dance Floor, fell to Number Four (210,000), this week brought a boost for country sensation Kenny Chesney's latest, The Road and the Radio. The former chart-topper climbed back up a spot to second place (303,000) in its third week out, most likely given a lift by Chesney's primetime ABC tour special last week.
The twentieth installment of the ever-popular hits series Now That's What I Call Music! continued to sell strong in the early holiday season, moving another 288,000 CDs to climb two spots to Number Three. And the soundtrack to 50 Cent's biopic, Get Rich or Die Tryin', featuring the superstar rapper and members of his G Unit crew, climbed up one place in its third week out (Number Five, 207,000) for another strong -- if unspectacular for 50 -- sales week.
The four new tracks on Mariah Carey's re-release of her blockbuster The Emancipation of Mimi continues to give the comeback album an added boost: Months after the original version hit stores, Mimi's at Number Six (204,000), down just two spots. But the latest American Idol, Carrie Underwood, shows less chart power, as her debut Some Hearts fell five places in its second week out to Number Seven (187,000). But if Underwood can hang onto the Top Twenty for a while, she still has a shot at matching fellow Idol Kelly Clarkson.