Clapton and King Join Forces to Ride Into the Top 10

Thirty-three years after they first met and jammed at a New York club, guitar titans Eric Clapton and B.B. King have scored a Top 10 debut on the nation’s album charts with a collaborative collection of blues and R&B; songs.

“Riding With the King” sold 193,000 copies in its first week in stores to debut at No. 3, trailing only sophomore releases from red-hot rapper Eminem and teen queen Britney Spears on the bestsellers tally. Eminem sold 520,000 copies of the “Marshall Mathers LP” while Spears sold 324,000 copies of “Oops! . . . I Did It Again.”

English rock hero Clapton was visiting America for the first time in 1967 when he and King played an after-hours set at the Cafe Au Go Go, and they teamed up again in 1993 to perform on the Grammy Awards. Clapton, though, did not broach the idea of a tandem album until recently, because for the first time he feels “that maybe I had found my footing enough as a musician to be able to share the same space” with the elder bluesman.

The Memphis rap collective Three 6 Mafia, led by DJ Paul and Juicy J, arrives at No. 6 this week with “When the Smoke Clears/Sixty 6, Sixty 1,” which sold 157,000 copies its first week in stores.

Bon Jovi, the New Jersey group that scored its biggest success with the hit-heavy album “Slippery When Wet” in 1986, marks a return to the charts this week with “Crush,” which debuts at No. 9. The disc sold 115,000 copies in its first week in U.S. stores, and has already sold more than 3 million copies worldwide--somewhat surprising even to the group’s label.

“There was a lot of concern--they’ve been gone for five-plus years . . . and what is Bon Jovi in the world of rock today? They’re not a Kid Rock, they’re not a Korn, etc.,” says Jim Caparro, chairman of Island/Def Jam. “But it’s a great album, and a lot of people worked really hard on this.”

Other notable debuts include the “Shaft” soundtrack, featuring Isaac Hayes and R. Kelly, at No. 22; Sinead O’Connor’s “Faith and Courage” at No. 55; and NOFX at No. 61.