Rob Thomas needs no help getting to the top

Two heads may be better than one, but this week in pop music one is better than 20, as Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas outdoes his band by entering the national sales chart at No. 1 with his debut solo album, “... Something to Be.”

Thomas’ collection sold 252,000 copies its first week in stores, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Thomas becomes the first member of a pop or rock group to enter Billboard’s top album chart at No. 1 with a solo debut since the magazine started the listing in 1955.

He also tops Matchbox’s peak position on Billboard’s album chart of No. 3, which the group reached with its 2000 album “Mad Season.”

Thomas elbows Mariah Carey out of the top spot after sales of the pop diva’s “The Emancipation of Mimi” dropped 44%, from 404,000 its first week to 226,000 last week.

Other new entries in the Top 10 are Houston rapper Mike Jones’ debut, “Who Is Mike Jones?,” at No. 3 on sales of 181,000 copies; “Il Divo,” the first album from the classically trained pop vocal quartet of the same name that sold 147,000 to enter at No. 4; and, at No. 10 with sales of 57,000 copies, the CD/DVD soundtrack “Three 6 Mafia Presents: Choices II: The Set Up.”