Creed Is Still No. 1 With ‘Weathered’

Creed’s “Weathered” tops the nation’s album chart for the second consecutive week, making the spiritually minded hard-rock collection one of the front-runners in the record industry’s lucrative holiday season sales race.

The album sold 417,000 copies last week to bring its two-week total to more than 1.3 million. The runner-up both weeks was Vol. 8 in the “Now That’s What I Call Music” hit compilation series, which sold 353,000 copies last week to bring its total to 902,000, according to SoundScan.

Other albums showing continuing strength include collections by Garth Brooks (No. 4), Britney Spears (No. 5), Enya (No. 9) and Enrique Iglesias (No. 10).

But some of the other contenders are already sliding down the chart. They include Kid Rock (who has fallen from No. 7 to No. 15 after two weeks), Michael Jackson (No. 1 to No. 17 in five weeks), the Backstreet Boys (No. 4 to No. 20 after five weeks) and Jewel (No. 9 to No. 21 after three weeks).

The highest new arrival this week is rapper Ludacris’ “Word of Mouf,” which sold 282,000 copies to finish in third place. Busta Rhymes’ new “Genesis” sold 185,000, enough for No. 7. Two holiday discs--a “Now That’s What I Call Christmas!” compilation and Mannheim Steamroller’s “Christmas Extraordinaire”--are No. 6 and No. 8, respectively.

The only other new release to break into the Top 30 this week is “The Concert for New York City.” The two-disc collection was recorded Oct. 20 at Madison Square Garden, a benefit for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The nation’s best-selling single continues to be Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”