Usher's Confessions might not scream Mother's Day gift, but the record enjoyed a sales increase in its third week, selling 267,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to return to Number One. The tally, up 5,000 from last week, pushed Confessions past 3 million copies sold and knocked D12's D12 World out of the top spot after just one week. Eminem's rap troupe took a huge hit in its second week, selling 197,000 copies (down from 545,000) at Number Two. Prince's Musicology continues to post sales without the standard sales drops. The record sold 150,000 copies at Number Three putting its cumulative sales at over 500,000 in just three weeks.

The week's highest debut was southern rapper Petey Pablo's Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry which sold 117,000 copies at Number Four. Other strong first week sales were posted by Third Day's Wire (Number Twelve, 61,000), American Idol contestant Kimberley Locke's One Love (Number Sixteen, 57,000), Patti LaBelle's Timeless Journey (Number Eighteen, 56,000) and Carly Simon's Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits (Number Twenty-two, 45,000).

Sales were up across the board, with the Top 200 selling 4.5 million compared to 4.2 million a week ago. Seventeen albums in the Top Fifty enjoyed sales spikes, none as big as Luther Vandross. The R&B singer appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show last week, his first television appearance since suffering a massive stroke last year. Vandross' latest album, Dance With My Father, flew from Number 118 to Number Forty-six, with its sales jumping from 9,000 to 26,000.

As for next week, Usher won't likely see much in the way of competition for the Number One slot.

This week's Top Ten: Usher's Confessions; D12's D12 World; Prince's Musicology; Petey Pablo's Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry; Diana Krall's Girl in the Other Room; Hoobastank's The Reason; Mario Winans' Hurt No More; Norah Jones' Feels Like Home; Josh Groban's Closer; and Now That's What I Call Music! 15.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories