Lloyd Banks' Hunger for More took a hearty hit in its second week in stores, but the G-Unit rapper was able to hold on to the Number One slot. Banks' debut sold 164,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, down from last week's 434,000 tally but enough to top Usher's Confessions, which spent yet another week at Number Two, selling 131,000 copies. After more than three months in stores, Confessions is just two to three weeks away from topping the 5 million mark.
Without a strong chart newcomer, sales were down in the Top 200. Angie Stone's Stone Love was the week's highest charting debut, selling 53,000 at Number Fourteen. Inside the Top Ten was one newcomer, country duo Big and Rich, whose Horse of a Different Color has gradually crept higher on the charts over the past ten weeks, reaching Number Six this week with sales of 75,000.
There wasn't much more movement on the charts this week, though Guns n' Roses' Greatest Hits proved that VH1's Behind the Music is still a draw. The record spiked from 24,000 copies to 42,000 copies and jumped from Number Fifty-one to Number Twenty-one.
Usher looks to be in a pretty strong position for a return to Number One, as Confessions' weekly declines have been minimal and Banks' will likely slide to a five-figure tally. Several new releases reached record store shelves this week -- from hip-hop (the Roots) to dancehall (Beenie Man) to buzz band (the Polyphonic Spree), though none look like chart-topping contenders. The biggest run could come from Jimmy Buffett, whose hit duet with Alan Jackson last year, inspired License to Chill, a new album of country collaborations.
This week's Top Ten: Lloyd Banks' Hunger for More; Usher's Confessions; Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party; Jadakiss' Kiss of Death; Avril Lavigne's Under My Skin; Big and Rich's Horse of a Different Color; the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack; Velvet Revolver's Contraband; the Beastie Boys' To the 5 Boroughs; and Los Lonely Boys' Los Lonely Boys.