OutKast: The Comeback Kids

01/21/2004 6:15 PM, E! Online
David Jenison

Once again OutKast didn't spend too much time cast out of the top slot.

A week after being displaced on the album chart by Josh Groban 's Closer, the Polaroid-shaking duo was back at number one with their mega-popular Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. According to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released Wednesday, the double-disc, Grammy-nominated album moved 97,000 copies last week.

It's the fourth time since the CD's release last October that the album has moved into the peak position--not bad for a couple of guys who had never landed a number one album with any of their previous four releases.

Groban became the latest artist knocked from the chart perch by OutKast. For those keeping score at home, OutKast debuted at number one on October 1, dethroning DMX. Speakerboxx/The Love Below returned to the top spot on November 5, ousting Clay Aiken, and again ascended to number one on December 31, knocking off Alicia Keys . So far, the album has totaled six weeks at number one and could extend that run next month if OutKast manages to capitalize on its leading six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year.

With no major new releases to muck up the works, the same artists remained in the Top 10 as last week, although there were some musical chairs. Groban's Closer dropped four spots to number five, selling 65,000. Meanwhile, The Very Best of Sheryl Crow climbed four to number two with 73,000 copies. The Diary of Alicia Keys fell one place to three with 69,000 copies.

Toby Keith 's Shock'n Y'All moved up a notch to fourth and Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 14 was up one to six, while No Doubt's The Singles: 1992-2003 dropped from fourth to seventh. Unmoved from last week's ranking were Ruben Studdard's Soulful, Evanescence's Fallen and Jay-Z's The Black Album at eight, nine and 10, respectively.

The week's highest debut belonged to WWE Originals, an entire album's worth of professional wrestlers belting out original tunes. The 17-song disc, which sold 48,000 copies to open at number 12, includes such ditties as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's "Where's The Beer," Brooker T's "Can You Dig it?" and Kurt Angle's "I Don't Suck (Really)."

Other new albums to crack the charts included The Best of Keith Sweat : Make You Sweat at 31, Crystal Method's Legion of Boom at 36, Amici Together's The Opera Band at 106, Joe Cocker 's Ultimate Collection at 122 and Florida's Iced Earth at 145 with Glorious Burden.

Meanwhile, the car-top boogie at Michael Jackson 's arraignment didn't help his sales. The singer's Number Ones had jumped to 15 following his CBS TV special two weeks ago, but the Cuffed One's collection fell back to number 40 for arraignment week.

B2K also suffered on the charts as the soundtrack to the R&B group's first film, You Got Served, plummeted 22 spots to number 98 selling only 11,000 copies. Last month, the quartet announced it was breaking up after six years. Needless to say, poor album sales and a group split doesn't exactly spell good box office, so don't expect the film to squash The Return of the King when it opens January 30.

Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday:

1. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast
2. The Very Best of Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow
3. The Diary of Alicia Keys, Alicia Keys
4. Shock'n Y'All, Toby Keith
5. Closer, Josh Groban
6. Now That's What I Call Music! 14, various artists
7. The Singles: 1992-2003, No Doubt
8. Soulful, Ruben Studdard
9. Fallen, Evanescence
10. The Black Album, Jay-Z