Clay Rams Rod on Chart

10/29/2003 4:00 PM, E! Online
David Jension

Call it Revenge of the Nerd, Part II.

Geeky American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken proved to be second to none, holding the top spot for a second straight week. For the week ended Sunday, Aiken's Measure of a Man sold nearly 225,000 copies, according to SoundScan numbers released Wednesday.

The only artist making a run at Aiken was Rod Stewart , whose old-time pop cover album As Time Goes By...Great American Songbook: Vol. II opened at number two. Stewart, clearly an idol in his own right, moved 212,000 copies due in part to a recent Oprah appearance. Catching heat from his new album, the original Great American Songbook, released a year ago this month, jumped 49 spots to number 46, while The Very Best of Rod Stewart reentered the charts at 125.

Fueled by a huge TV direct-response campaign, The Very Best of the Eagles sold 161,000 copies at number three. The double-disc set features all the band's easy-rocking classics, including "Take It Easy," "Already Gone" and "Hotel California."

The Harlem-born, Beverly Hills-raised Loon also made an impression on the chart, selling nearly 80,000 copies of his self-titled debut to check in at number six. With help from P. Diddy, the 90210 gangsta built up name recognition with countless guest appearances, most recently on the Bad Boys II soundtrack.

The fourth and final Top 10 bow belonged to Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies , whose Everything to Everyone landed at 10 with 71,000 copies.

The remaining Top 10 were holdovers: OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below at four, Ludacris' Chicken & Beer at five, Dido's Life for Rent at six, Jagged Edge's Hard at eight and Barbra Streisand 's The Movie Album at nine.

Nineteen-year-old Mandy Moore , who first made her mark singing teen pop hits like "Candy" and "Crush," debuted at 14 with Coverage. Moore, who returns to the big screen in 2004 with How to Deal and Miss Liberty, stacked her third release with covers of lesser-known songs originally performed by the likes of the Waterboys, Joni Mitchell , Todd Rundgren and Elton John and recorded long before Moore was born.

Other Top 40 debuts included Marques Houston's MH at 18, Something Corporate's North at 24 and Van Morrison 's What's Wrong with This Picture? at 32. Also opening strong: Rush's fourth live disc, Rush in Rio, which debuted at 33. The triple-disc set was recorded on the final night of the Canadian prog-rockers' Vapor Trails Tour.

Further down the charts, the Shins' Chutes Too Narrow logged in at 86, Smokie Norful's self-titled opened at 90, punk greats Anti-Flag's Terror State registered at 91, the score to Disney's Brother Bear roared in at 97, and NYC's the Rapture's Echoes debuted at 121.

The rap duo Dead Prez's Get Free or Die Trying (a title that clearly mimics 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin') checked in at 144. Previously making a name for themselves on Loud Records, Dead Prez released their latest on independent Landspeed Records.

Nearly a year after his death, former Clash frontman Joe Strummer 's final studio album, Streetcore, opened at 160. The U.K. deejay duo Basement Jaxx landed at 172 with Kish Kash, which features a guest appearance by 'N Sync 's JC Chasez .

This week also marked a milestone for Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, whose TVT Records release Kings of Crunk celebrated its one-year anniversary on the charts. The sleeper hit disc, currently at number 30, continues to benefit from its smash single, "Get Low" with the Ying Yang Twins.

Here's a recap of last week's Top 10 albums:

1. Measure of a Man, Clay Aiken
2. As Time Goes By...Great American Songbook: Vol. II, Rod Stewart
3. The Very Best of the Eagles, Eagles
4. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast
5. Chicken & Beer, Ludacris
6. Loon, Loon
7. Life for Rent, Dido
8. Hard, Jagged Edge
9. The Movie Album, Barbra Streisand
10. Everything to Everyone, Barenaked Ladies