‘Tribute to Heroes’ Opens at No. 17 on Chart

The new U.S. pop chart is stuffed like a stocking full of holiday fare, with brisk-selling Christmas titles from Mannheim Steamroller, Barbra Streisand and Destiny’s Child, but the week’s top debut belongs to a disc marking a different date: Sept. 11.

“Tribute to Heroes,” the benefit album that collects the live performances from the unique all-star telethon for victim relief that followed the terrorist attacks, debuts this week at No. 17 with 126,000 copies sold.

“Tribute” features Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Alicia Keys and others who performed at the austere and unprecedented telethon staged 10 days after the attacks in New York and the Washington, D.C., area. A similar fund-raising disc, the “Concert for New York,” fell to No. 39 and has sold 148,000 copies in its two weeks in stores. Proceeds from both albums go toward assistance programs and relief for victims’ families.

The big push in recent weeks of big-name releases jockeying for lucrative holiday sales kept the top of the chart largely static, with no debuts in the Top 10 and, except for “Tribute,” none in the Top 25.

The No. 1 slot was claimed for the third week in a row by Creed, the Florida band that crafts radio-friendly guitar rock with spiritual and epic themes. “Weathered” sold 458,000 on the week, up from 417,000 the previous week. The album is now closing in on 2 million in total sales in less than a month.

Two recent additions to the popular “Now” series finished as the week’s second and third best-selling albums. “Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 8,” a survey or recent pop hits by top artists, sold 366,000 copies; “Now That’s What I Call Christmas,” with fare by 36 artists ranging from Bing Crosby to John Lennon, sold 282,000. Other holiday titles: Mannheim Steamroller’s “Christmas Extraordinaire” climbed three spots to No. 5, Streisand’s “Christmas Memories” moved up seven spaces to No. 15; and “8 Days of Christmas” from Destiny’s Child rose two spots to No. 34.

On the singles chart, Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” is No. 1. And, three months after the terrorist attacks, patriotic music continues to dominate the top of the chart: Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” is No. 2; Whitney Houston’s version of the “Star-Spangled Banner” is No. 3; country singer Aaron Tippin’s “Where the Stars & Stripes and the Eagle Fly” is No. 5; Elvis Presley’s take on “America the Beautiful” is No. 10; and Randy Travis’ “America Will Always Stand” is No. 16.