Mariah halts the rock ride at No. 1 spot

Mariah Carey’s “The Emancipation of Mimi” album returns to No. 1 on the nation’s pop sales chart this week, ending a six-week hold on the top position by a succession of rock acts.

Carey’s album, which entered the chart at No. 1 on April 20 by selling 404,000 copies in its first week in the stores, sold an additional 172,000 last week, easily topping the 118,000 total last week of System of a Down’s “Mezmerize.” Carey’s album has sold 1.7 million copies after eight weeks in stores, Nielsen SoundScan reported Wednesday.

Carey’s resurgence with “Mimi” is especially impressive, given the singer’s future as a bestseller was considered so dim three years ago that she was dropped by the EMI Group.

After Carey’s week at No. 1 in April, six rock-related artists took one-week turns at the top spot on the charts. They were, in order, Rob Thomas, Bruce Springsteen, Nine Inch Nails, the Dave Matthews Band, System of a Down and Audioslave, the latter slipping to No. 3 with sales of 99,000 in its second week.

Rock appears a cinch to recapture the top spot next week, according to retailers. Coldplay’s “X&Y;” got off to such a fast start when it went on sale Tuesday that it should easily top next week’s sales list, possibly hitting in the 600,000 to 700,000 range.

Other albums expected to enter the Top 10 next week include new releases from the Black Eyed Peas, the White Stripes and Shakira, the latter a Spanish-language effort.

The industry is hopeful that Coldplay and the other releases will help jump-start a year in which record sales are down 8% from the same point last year.