Danity Kane Sidesteps OutKast To Claim No. 1

In yet another big week for new albums on The Billboard 200, Danity Kane comes out on top of the crop with its self-titled debut. The set sold 234,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving Bad Boy Records its seventh No. 1 album and first since 2003's "Bad Boys II" soundtrack.

The winners of MTV's "Making the Band 3" in 2005, quintet Danity Kane exceeded the two other "Making the Band" debuts' opening week tallies: O-Town's self-titled began with 145,000 at No. 5 in 2001 and Da Band's "Too Hot for T.V." started with 204,000 at No. 2 in 2003.

OutKast opens at No. 2 with the its fifth effort, the soundtrack to its film "Idlewild." The LaFace release sold 196,000, a huge dropoff compared with 2003's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," which moved 510,000 units in its first week. The film "Idlewild" opened at No. 9 at the North American box office last weekend with $5.7 million.

After debuting on top last week, Christina Aguilera's RCA album "Back to Basics" slips to No. 3 with 135,000, a sales decline of 61%.

Mexican rock group Mana breaks a new record this week with the release of "Amar Es Combatir" (Warner Latina), which becomes the highest charting and biggest debut for a Spanish-language album for a duo or group on The Billboard 200. "Amar" opened at No. 4 and sold 87,000 copies. It also crowns both the Top Rock Albums and Top Latin Albums charts.


Disney's "The Cheetah Girls 2" soundtrack holds tight at No. 5 in its second week on the big chart with 81,000 copies, a sales dip of 7%.

Paris Hilton's "Paris" becomes the highest debut for a new solo female pop artist this year with a No. 6 entry. The Warner Bros. set moved 77,000 units this week; it features the top 20 Hot 100 hit "Stars Are Blind." The BMG/Zomba/EMI/UME compilation "NOW 22" falls 6-7 in its seventh week on the chart, moving 68,000 (-18%).

Lamb Of God's Epic set "Sacrament" bows at No. 8 with 63,000, earning the hard rock group its best chart position and sales week ever. Its last set, 2004's "Ashes of the Wake," debuted and peaked at No. 27 with 35,000.

Luther Vandross' "The Ultimate Luther Vandross" debuts at No. 9 with 59,000. The set features 18 of the soul singer's greatest hits, plus a handful of previously unreleased tracks.

Kelis closes out the top tier with "Kelis Was Here" (Jive). The release bows at No. 10 with 58,000, which easily trumps her previous best charting position with 2003's "Tasty" (No. 27). Another debuting big this week is country artist Pat Green's "Cannonball" (BNA) at No. 20 with 38,000.

At 9.54 million units, overall CD sales are down less than 1% from last week's count and down 1.2% compared to the same week a year ago. Sales for 2006 are down 6% compared to 2005 at 344.61 million units.