Ludacris’ new CD proves to be quite therapeutic

RAPPER Ludacris outpaced a leaner, meaner Janet Jackson in the national album sales race this week as the Atlanta rhymer’s “Release Therapy” sold 309,000 copies to debut at No. 1, just ahead of Jackson’s “20 Y.O.” album, which sold 296,000.

Jackson appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show, but still came up short of the 381,000 first-week sales of her previous album, “Damita Jo,” in 2004. Ludacris came closer to matching the first-week sales of 322,000 for his last outing, 2004’s “Red Light District.”

The 80-year-old icon of classic pop, Tony Bennett, entered at No. 3 with sales of 202,000 copies of his “Duets: An American Classic” collection. Alan Jackson’s “Like Red on a Rose,” a moodily romantic set produced by Alison Krauss, debuted at No. 4 with sales of 149,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The only other new Top 10 entry is parodist Weird Al Yankovic’s “Straight Outta Lynwood,” which sold 73,000 copies and entered at No. 10.

And rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis’ first studio album in more than a dozen years, a star-studded outing with Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, George Jones, Merle Haggard and others, brought the Killer back to the Top 30. “Last Man Standing” sold 34,000 copies and debuted at No. 26.

Justin Timberlake’s “Future Sex/LoveSounds” dropped from the top spot to No. 5 on sales of 147,000, down from its previous week’s sales of 228,000. Last week’s chart figures initially were reported as estimates because a major retailer had not reported its sales to SoundScan by the time figures were released. Timberlake’s sales had been projected at 217,000 copies.

With the addition of the missing data, Clay Aiken’s “A Thousand Different Ways” actually sold 211,000 (over the estimate of 205,000), Fergie’s “The Dutchess” sold 158,000 (compared with 142,000) and Kenny Chesney’s “Live Those Songs Again” sold 146,000 (up from 137,000).

randy.lewis@latimes.com