Jeezy Squeezes Idols on Charts

12/20/2006 12:27 PM, E! Online
David Jenison

At age 29, Taylor Hicks was the oldest contestant to win American Idol. Unfortunately, he released his debut disc in a week that favored the Young.

Peach State rapper Young Jeezy single-handedly spanked Hicks—and a slew of other Idols—landing The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102 atop the Billboard 200 album charts for the week ended Sunday. Jeezy's disc sold 352,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Jeezy first got noticed as a member of the Bad Boy Entertainment quartet Boyz N Da Hood. Though hailed as the NWA of the South, the group's 2005 self-titled debut failed to live up to the hype. Jeezy had also landed a Def Jam solo deal, and his Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 followed a month later, debuting at number two.

(Jeezy has since left Boyz N Da Hood, who are slated to release Back in the Chevy in spring. Such rap stars as Lil' Wayne, Rick Ross and T.I. were rumored as possible replacements, but it appears the new Hood will be Gorilla Zoe.)

Meanwhile, the silver-domed Hicks, on the heels of a whirlwind schedule of TV appearances, crooned his way to number two, selling 298,000 copies of his self-titled debut.

The Alabama-born singer became the season five American Idol champ last May when his "Soul Patrol" fans helped cast more than 63.4 million votes in his favor. The Silver Fox joins Ruben Studdard as American Idol's only male victors, and both champs hail from Birmingham, as does season four runner-up Bo Bice.

In terms of Idol winner debuts, Hicks' sales ranked ahead of Kelly Clarkson (whose Breakaway debuted at number one, selling 297,000 copies) and Fantasia (whose Free Yourself debuted at number eight with 239,000), but behind Studdard (whose Soulful debuted at number one with 416,000) and Carrie Underwood (whose Some Hearts debuted at number two with 315,000). Of all Idol contestants, Clay Aiken is still the champ. Although he finished second to Studdard in season two, Aiken's Measure of Man topped the charts in its first week, moving a whopping 613,000 copies.

In any event, American Idol had no shortage of artists in the Top 20 last week. More than a year after its release, Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts remained strong at number six, selling 199,000 more copies, while finalist Chris Daughtry's band holds the seven spot for a second week, selling 181,000 copies of Daughtry. Though falling short of expectations, season three camp Fantasia sold 133,000 copies of her eponymous sophomore album at 19.

Other Idol albums still on the charts include Aiken's Thousand Different Ways at 124 and Studdard's The Return at 197.

Fresh off her Grammy nomination domination, Mary J. Blige's new hits disc, Reflections: A Retrospective, scored the third and final Top 10 debut at nine,  moving 171,000 copies. The remaining Top 10 were all familiar faces: the Hannah Montana soundtrack at three, Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 23 at four, Josh Groban's Awake at five, the Beatles' Love at eight and Ill Divo's Siempre at 10.

Ciara's Evolution, Eminem Presents: The Re-Up and Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape, which debuted respectively at one, two and three on the previous chart, all dropped from the Top 10 in their second weeks. Evolution fell 10 spots to 11, The Re-Up dropped a dozen spots to 13, and The Sweet Escape slipped 11 to 14.

Despite landing a pair of platinum R&B albums in '98 and '02, Tyrese is best known today for film roles in Annapolis, Four Brothers, 2 Fast 2 Furious and next summer's Transformers. Nevertheless, his first official album in four years, Alter Ego, debuted at 23 on a career-high 116,000 first-week copies. The title of the double-disc set alludes to Black-Ty, the actor-singer's rap alias.

Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah landed the next-best bow at 71, selling 36,000 copies of More Fish. This starkly contrasts with the rapper's earlier '06 release, Fishscale, which debuted at number four in April.

Overall, album sales climbed 24 percent from the previous week, yet sales are still down 6 percent from the same week last year. Total 2006 album sales are down 5 percent compared to 2005.

Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:

1. The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102, Young Jeezy

2. Taylor Hicks, Taylor Hicks

3. Hannah Montana soundtrack, various

4. Now That's What I Call Music! 23, various

5. Awake, Josh Groban

6. Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood

7. Daughtry, Chris Daughtry

8. Love, Beatles

9. Reflections: A Retrospective, Mary J. Blige

10. Simpre, Il Divo