Usher takes No. 1, even with Prince’s ‘sales’

Usher holds the No. 1 spot on the nation’s album sales chart for the fifth week despite strong showings by new works from Mario Winans and Prince, yet in a way Prince has still upstaged both young R&B; singers.

Prince’s new “Musicology” album posted sales of 191,000, short of Usher’s 253,000 for “Confessions” and Winans’ “Hurt No More,” which debuts at No. 2 on sales of almost 223,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

But “Musicology” generated the most industry scrutiny because everyone who sees Prince on his current tour receives a copy of the CD as part of the ticket price -- and Nielsen SoundScan, for the first time, has agreed to count those albums as “sales.”

That means Prince’s total last week included about 12,000 CDs given to fans at a concert stop in Columbia, S.C., according to his label, Columbia Records. As it happens, Prince would have debuted at No. 3 even without the concert CDs.

Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard magazine, said “Musicology” CDs distributed at concerts before the album was released to retail on April 20 were not counted.

Prince’s sales figure will get an even bigger “concert” boost next week because five shows are eligible, though receipts from all the dates may not be certified in time for next week’s chart.

Even with the additional sales boost, however, Prince won’t leap to No. 1 on the charts. That spot is waiting for “D12 World,” the new album from Detroit rap group D12, which features Eminem. It got off to a strong start its first day in stores Tuesday that suggests it should sell more than 500,000 copies its first week.

“D12 is our next No. 1 album,” Mayfield said.