R. Kelly Outslugs Slim Thug on the Chart

R. Kelly's seventh solo effort, TP.3 Reloaded, sold 139,000 copies in its second week to cling to the top spot on the nation's album chart. Hot on the embattled R&B star's heels is some young hip-hop talent: Houston rapper Slim Thug's ambitiously named Already Platinum moved 129,000 copies to take Number Two, and Wanted, from the all-grown-up Bow Wow (formerly Lil' Bow Wow), sold 119,000 to debut at Number Three.

Rounding out the Top Five are chart mainstays, both down one spot from last week: X&Y, by British mega-rockers Coldplay, which sold another 100,000 copies to take Number Four; and Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi, which moved another 99,000 CDs to hit Number Five. The week's next highest debut belongs to alterna-rockers All-American Rejects, who moved 90,000 copies of their sophomore album, Move Along, to land at Number Six.

In a hip-hop-saturated Top Ten, Missy Elliott's The Cookbook slipped five spots in its second week to Number Seven (65,000), while equally dance-friendly hip-hoppers Black Eyed Peas saw their Monkey Business come down a notch to Eight (65,000). The Ying Yang Twins' fourth album, United State of Atlanta, also fell four places, to Number Nine (62,000) in its third week.

Taking the rear is country champ George Strait's Somewhere Down in Texas, which dropped four spots to Number Ten (59,000).

This week's most dramatic loss belongs to Dirty South rapper Webbie, whose debut Savage Life, opened at Number Eight, only to plummet to Twenty-eight (30,000) in just its second week. A few heavyweights also lost some leverage. The Foo Fighters' In Your Honor has already dropped out of the Top Ten, two places to Number Eleven (59,000). And chart regular Gwen Stefani saw her solo debut, Love, Angel, Music, Baby, slip down two spots to Twelve (56,000), in another week of its seven months' worth of yo-yoing up and down the chart. Houston rapper Mike Jones' debut, Who Is Mike Jones?, which reversed momentum last week to climb eight spots to Number Twelve, has done another about-face, dropping three places to Fifteen (50,000).

With no major releases this week, expect R. Kelly, Mariah and Coldplay to continue their chart dance.

This week's Top Ten: R. Kelly's TP.3 Reloaded; Slim Thug's Already Platinum; Bow Wow's Wanted; Coldplay's X&Y; Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi; All-American Rejects' Move Along; Missy Elliott's The Cookbook; Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business; Ying Yang Twins' United State of Atlanta; George Strait's Somewhere Down in Texas.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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