Nas Scores Third No. 1 Album With 'Hip-Hop Is Dead'

Nas scores his third No. 1 on The Billboard 200 this week with his eighth studio set, "Hip Hop Is Dead." The Def Jam effort moved 355,000 copies last week in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The rapper's last effort, "Street's Disciple," peaked at No. 5 on the chart. Nas' two other sets to take the summit were 1999's "I Am... The Autobiography" and 1996's "It Was Written."

Following closely behind, the soundtrack to Disney's "Hannah Montana" climbs 3-2 in its ninth week on the chart with 349,000, a 28% sales boost. The Sony BMG Strategic Marketing Group/EMI/Universal/Zomba hits compilation "NOW 23" also moves up, 4-3, with 313,000 (+33%).

Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts" (Arista/Arista Nashville) ascends 6-4 in its 58th week on the chart, moving 292,000 with a 47% surge. Sliding up 8-5, the Beatles' "Love" (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol) shifted 282,000, a sales increase of 58%.

Bow Wow's "The Price of Fame" (Columbia) enters the chart at No. 6 with 262,000. It is the rapper's third-best charting week, as his 2003 effort "Unleashed" and 2005's "Wanted" both debuted at No. 3.

Josh Groban's "Awake" (143/Reprise) is down 5-7 despite a 15% increase to 255,000 while Daughtry's self-titled RCA debut falls 7-8 despite a 38% boost at 250,000.

Justin Timberlake's Jive album "FutureSex/LoveSounds" re-enters the top tier, rocketing 22-9 with a 98% sales increase to 230,000. Akon's "Konvicted" zooms 16-10 on a 60% increase to 227,000.

During the week leading up to Christmas, few other new titles were released. Among the top debuts are RBD's "Rebels" (EMI Televisa), which opened at No. 40 with 94,000, and Trick Daddy's "Back by Thug Demand" (Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic), which bowed at No. 48 on sales of 87,000.

Overall, album sales are up 34% from last week's count and are down 6% compared to the same week a year ago at 31.24 million units. Sales for 2006 are down 4.7% compared to 2005 at 574 million units.