Usher eyes 4 million sales mark

Usher’s “Confessions” reclaimed the No. 1 slot on the national album sales chart once more, surpassing Avril Lavigne’s “Under My Skin,” which slipped to No. 2 with a 55% sales drop from its first week.

Lavigne’s sophomore album sold 381,000 copies in its debut week and dipped to 170,000 last week, while “Confessions” held steady at 194,000. The year’s top-selling album so far will cross the 4 million mark this week.

Slipknot slipped even more than Lavigne, with a 65% fall from its debut week figure of 243,000. The sales slide drops “Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)” from No. 2 to No. 5 this week.

Country rebel Gretchen Wilson was among several performers who benefited from exposure on last week’s Academy of Country Music Awards telecast, and her debut album “Here for the Party” moved up one slot to No. 3, even though its sales fell slightly, from 125,000 the previous week to 111,000 last week.

“Contraband,” the debut album from Velvet Revolver, the new band formed by Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland and former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, was off to a solid start Tuesday in its first day in stores, retailers reported. Some projections indicate that it could sell 200,000 to 250,000 copies during its first week.

If Velvet Revolver manages to dislodge Usher, its reign is expected to be a short one. The new album from the Beastie Boys arrives next week, with an expectation that its first-week figure could reach 500,000 copies.

-- Randy Lewis