Creed Keeps No. 1 Spot for 8th Week

The nation’s pop album chart is singing the post-holiday blues. Yet even though sales among the Top 10 albums were down an average of 20% last week, Creed got some good news as its “Weathered” passed the Beatles’ “1” by logging its eighth straight week at No. 1.

Sales of the Florida band’s “Weathered” dropped from 166,000 to 138,000 last week, according to SoundScan, but in terms of time spent at the top of the chart, Creed now joins Eminem (“The Marshall Mathers LP,” 2000) and ‘N Sync (“No Strings Attached,” 2000) at eight consecutive weeks. The modern longevity record is held by the “Titanic” soundtrack, whose record of 16 weeks in 1998 figures to stay afloat for a long time.

None of the albums in this week’s Top 10 posted sales gains over the previous week, but that’s typical for this time of the year, according to Wherehouse Entertainment senior pop buyer Bob Bell. “Coming out of the Christmas season, sales are going to be down, and the new release schedule really hasn’t heated up yet,” Bell said.

In fact, the only new album showing up in the Top 100 is the soundtrack to the film “I Am Sam,” which debuts at No. 25 with sales of 36,000 copies.

The Top 10 remained relatively static, with Linkin Park, Ludacris, Nickelback and Nas, respectively, occupying the chart positions below Creed. The remaining Top 10 slots, in order, are held by Pink, Ja Rule, Alicia Keys, the “Now That’s What I Call Music” hits collection and Enya.

The strongest threat to Creed’s chart domination arrived in stores Tuesday--Alan Jackson’s “Drive” album, which includes his hit song responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).”

“First-day sales are incredibly strong,” Bell said of the collection. “I think it’s got a good shot” at debuting at No. 1 next week. If it does, it will be the first time the country singer has entered the pop album chart in the top spot.

“He obviously benefits from the lack of competition out there in January, but it’s also got a very timely song inspired by the events of 9-11 that’s really resonating with a lot of people.”

The nation’s top-selling single for the third straight week is B2K’s “Uh Huh.”