With no major releases this week, the Dixie Chicks held onto the top spot for a second consecutive week, with the much-hyped, more rock-tinged Taking the Long Way selling another 271,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The controversy-stirring album -- shunned by several country stations across the U.S. -- is the trio's first since singer Natalie Maines' infamous verbal Bush-slap in 2003. Also simmering are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whose double disc, Stadium Arcadium, jumped two spots to Number Three (87,000) in its fourth week out. And the release is likely to continue selling strong, with the funk-rockers taking their impressive live act on the road this summer.
Country boy-band Rascal Flatts are still riding the Top Ten, with their already double-platinum Me and My Gang selling another 79,000 copies to climb two spots to Number Four. The trio recently recorded a remake of Tom Cochrane's "Life Is a Highway" for the soundtrack of the Disney Pixar movie Cars.
Rounding out the Top Five was, of course, the Season Five compilation of American Idol. With the finale behind us, and Southern crooner Taylor Hicks crowned king of mainstream America, the CD sold another easy 68,000 copies in its second week out, only dropping two places to Number Five. The album's debut marked the highest first-week sales in the history of the show's run. Plus, Carrie Underwood -- both the previous Idol and another country chart powerhouse -- saw her award-winning debut, Some Hearts, climb two spots to Number Eight (54,000) in its twenty-ninth week in stores.
Meanwhile, new-metal veterans Tool saw their first effort since 2001, former chart-topper 10,000 Days, stand strong in its fifth week out, climbing two places to Number Seven (55,000). And on the other end of the spectrum, British singer-songwriter and softie James Blunt saw his debut, Back to Bedlam, sell fifty percent more CDs this week (51,000) to make the leap from Twenty-Five to Nine -- mainly on the strength of his new single, "High."
Also making big strides were genre-bending hip-hop duo Gnarls Barkley, whose debut, St. Elsewhere, leapt seven places to Number Fourteen (36,000) in its fourth week out. And A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, the first effort from Vegas emo kids Panic! at the Disco, hopped thirteen spots to Number Sixteen (34,000) after a slow build.
Less pleased were Angels and Airwaves, the new band from former Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge. Their debut, We Don't Need To Whisper, slipped out of the Top Ten in just its second week out, down eight spots to Number Twelve (50,000). But don't dismiss DeLonge just yet: Angels' recently launched summer world tour may help this album gather steam.
This week's Top Ten: Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way; High School Musical: The Original Soundtrack; Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium; Rascal Flatts' Me and My Gang; American Idol Season Five: Encores; Now That's What I Call Music! 21; Tool's 10,000 Days; Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts; James Blunt's Back to Bedlam; Shakira's Oral Fixation Vol. 2.