| Alan Jackson Bucks McGraw by David Jenison Sep 15, 2004, 2:20 PM PT back to story Apparently, it takes a cowboy to unsaddle a cowboy. Country music Entertainer of the Year Alan Jackson ended Tim McGraw's two-week stint at number one, topping the charts with his 14th release, What I Do, selling 178,000 copies for the week ended Sept. 12, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released today. Jackson has a habit of taking out the competition. His last three albums ended chart-topping runs for other artists. The country singer's Greatest Hits Vol. II stopped a four-week run last year for the P. Diddy-led Bad Boys II soundtrack , while Drive closed out an eight-week run for Creed's Weathered back in 2002. Coincidentally, McGraw's two-week run marks the first time a male country singer held the top spot on consecutive charts since Drive held number one for three straight weeks over two-and-a-half years ago. Nonetheless, Jackson's sales numbers are in decline. Drive, powered by the 9-11 tribute "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," sold 423,000-first week copies, while his hits collection moved 328,000 copies. What I Do only did 178,000. With Jackson on top, McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying, slipped to number two with 153,000 copies. That pushes his three-week total past a million. After a long hiatus, R&B great Anita Baker makes a grand return as her Blue Note debut, My Everything, sold 130,000 copies at number four. The Detroit-born Baker, whose music is referenced in the Twista/Kanye West hit "Slow Jamz," is an eight-time Grammy winner responsible for such hits as "Giving You the Best I Got," "Just Because," and "Fairy Tales." The rest of the Top 10, all holdovers, included Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company at three, Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 16 at five, Ashlee Simpson's Autobiography at six, Jill Scott's Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 at seven, LL Cool J's The DEFinition at eight, R. Kelly's Happy People/U Saved Me at nine, and Young Buck at ten with Straight Outta Cashville. Emo rockers Senses Fail landed the next highest debut as their Vagrant Records debut, Let It Enfold You, sold 26,000 copies at 34. The group, which sports several literary and religious influences, actually named their album after a poem by Charles Bukowski. Over on the singles charts, American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo finally topped season three champ Fantasia. Since releasing competing singles in early summer, Fantasia's "I Believe/Chain of Fools" consistently held the edge over Diana DeGarmo's "Dreams/Don't Cry Out Loud," with the two singers a virtual lock at numbers one and two, respectively. Coincidentally, another Idol runner-up, season two's Clay Aiken, sits in the three spot with his own single, "Solitaire/The Way." To recap, the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday were as follows: 1. What I Do, Alan Jackson |