Strokes Get Out-Foxxed

01/11/2006 4:41 PM, E! Online
David Jenison

Per the Chinese calendar, 2006 is the Year of the Dog, but it's shaping up to be the Year of the Foxx on the charts.

Jamie Foxx continues digging gold as his sophomore album, Unpredictable, spent its second straight week at number one. The album sold another 131,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The Ray star is the fourth Oscar-winning actor to top the pop charts, joining Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. Foxx, who'll next be on screen as Detective Ricardo Tubbs in Michael Mann's big-screen adaptation of Miami Vice, could add his first Grammy to his trophy case next month. He's nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the track "Creepin' " off So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross.

Foxx released his debut, an R&B album called Peep This, in 1994 when he was best known for his In Living Color antics. The disc topped out at number 78 on the Billboard 200.

But his new album's continuing reign overshadowed the week's top debut, which belonged to former New York City buzz band the Strokes, whose First Impressions of Earth sold 88,000 copies to open at number four. The disc features the breakout single "Juicebox," the band's most successful radio track since "Last Nite."

The band's last album, Room on Fire, also opened at four in late 2003 but with a more robust 126,000 in sales. That disc debuted at number two on the U.K. album charts, while First Impressions is the band's first number one bow across the pond.

The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers from last year. Mary J. Blige remained at number two, selling 118,000 copies of The Breakthrough, followed by Eminem's Curtain Call at three with 109,000 copies. No other albums sold more than 100,000 copies.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts at five, Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi at six, the Notorious B.I.G.'s Duets: The Final Chapter at seven, Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway at eight, the Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business at nine and Nickelback's All the Right Reasons at 10.

The Nickelback album officially passed the 2 million mark last week, when it moved 58,000 copies.

Despite being a relatively paltry sum, it was enough to keep recent Spin magazine cover subject Fall Out Boy stuck at number 11 with From Under the Cork for the second straight week.

Thanks to a dearth of new releases and the typical post-holidays slump, several albums either returned to the charts or made their Billboard 200 debut. These include the Kirk Franklin-featured Gospel soundtrack at 82, Juanes' Mi Sangre at 152 and the David Crowder Band's A Collision at 182. Still, while sales were significantly down from the previous week, 2006's initial sales were up 7 percent compared to the first week of 2005, a promising sign for the beleaguered recording industry.

Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:

1. Unpredictable, Jamie Foxx
2. The Breakthrough, Mary J. Blige
3. Curtain Call, Eminem
4. First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes
5. Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood
6. The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey
7. Duets: The Final Chapter, Notorious B.I.G.
8. Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson
9. Monkey Business, Black Eyed Peas
10. All the Right Reasons, Nickelback