Ruben Bounces Alicia

As for the other newcomers, Musiq didn't quite match the Number One performance of his last album, but his Soulstar still sold 156,000 copies at Number Thirteen. Reunited rap trio the Westside Connection's Terrorist Threats (Number Sixteen, 136,000 copies sold), Avant's Private Room (Number Eighteen, 128,000), the Big Tymers' Big Money Heavy (Number Twenty-one, 116,000), Kelis' Tasty (Number Twenty-seven, 94,000) and the Offspring's Splinter (Number Thirty, 88,000) also posted strong first-week sales.

Next week's chart should feature similarly big sales, as holiday shoppers scramble to stuff stockings with music.

This week's Top Ten: Ruben Studdard's Soulful; Alicia Keys' The Diary of Alicia Keys; Now That's What I Call Music! 14; Toby Keith's Shock N Y'all; Josh Groban's Closer; OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below; Rod Stewart's The Great American Songbook, Volume II; Hilary Duff's So Yesterday; Sheryl Crow's Very Best of Sheryl Crow; and Britney Spears' In the Zone.