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NOW 23 Compilation Now No.1 in US

The 23rd instalment of NOW That's What I Call Music compilation CD debuts this week at No.1 on the US chart with sales of 337,000 copies. Hits on this disc include Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous, Rihanna's Unfaithful, Justin Timberlake's SexyBack, Fergie's London Bridge and Beyonce's Deja Vu.

American pop/classical singer Josh Groban debuts at No.2 with his third studio album Awake, while Australian country rock artist Keith Urban equals his last effort by entering the charts this week at No.3 with Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing. Groban and Urban each sold 270,000 copies in the past week. This was particularly impressive for Urban, as he cancelled his promotional tour for the album and a scheduled performance at the Country Music Association Awards on 6th November.

Country act Sugarland (now a duo after Kristen Hall left the group earlier this year) have a massive debut with their second album Enjoy The Ride at No.4 this week. The band's 2004 CD Twice The Speed of Life sold over 2 million copies in the US.

Rapper Jim Jones enters the chart at No.6 with Hustler's P.O.M.E (Product of My Environment), while The Dave Matthews Band collection Best of What's Around Vol.1 rounds out the top ten first week on the Billboard 200.

The top ten's biggest casualty was the Hannah Montana TV soundtrack toppliing off top spot and tumbling all the way to No.5 after two weeks at No.1.

Jamiroquai Tops UK Chart

Seven albums debut in the UK top ten this week, with Jamiroquai being the highest of these at No.1 with the band's retrospective High Times: Singles 1992-2006. Hot on Jamiroquai's heels at No.2 are Angelis, the childrens classical singing group managed by Pop Idol and American Idol host Simon Cowell, with their self-titled debut.

Irish acoustic/folk indie artist Damien Rice debuts at No.4 with his second full length album 9, making it the highest charting position of his career. Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins makes a stunning debut with her fifth album Serenade. The mezzo soprano is Britain's best selling classical artist of all time.

After having six UK No.1 singles (four each from their previous two albums and two so far from their current release), pop boy band McFly's Motion in the Ocean debuts at No.6 this week.

Paul Weller debuts at No.7 with his four-CD, 67-track box set of his greatest hits Hit Parade. CD1 covers Weller's career with The Jam, CD2 with The Style Council, while CDs 3&4 cover Weller's solo career.

The unstoppable Cliff Richard debuts at No.9 this week with Two's Company - The Duets, while Robbie Williams' stay in the top ten looks precarious as Rudebox tumbles from No.3 to No.9.

Robbie Williams: Rudebox (Review)

OK , let's get to the point, here.

There are four good songs on Robbie Williams' tenth solo album Rudebox:

• Lead single and title track Rudebox
• Viva Life on Mars
• Second single Lovelight
• She's Madonna

But unfortunately there are 17 tracks on the CD and 4 out of 17 is not a good statistic.

There'll be some chart action from these few good songs, but taken as a whole, the only consistency on the album is the 13 bad songs.

Much of the lyrics are (in no particular order):

• funny
• irreverent
• stupid
• ridiculous
• lame

Thank you to Lily Allen and The Pet Shop Boys for your contributions to Robbie's new CD. Unfortunately the tracks you sang on were so woeful, your talent wasn't recognised and as a result you didn't enhance the value of this record one iota.

The music business is full of hits and misses. We'll put this one down as a miss.

Oh ... and Robbie Williams' can't rap. Don't know why he even tried ...

Disappointing

Human Nature Motown At The Top

In Australia this week Human Nature's latest Motown record stays true atop the charts for a second week, while Robbie Williams' Rudebox remains at No.2.

The highest debuting album is Keith Urban's Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing at No.5, six places higher than his 2004 Be Here debut. Not a bad effort considering the album itself had little or no promotion and that Urban was a late cancellation at the Australian Record Industry Awards at the time of its release.

The Foo Fighters debut at No.11 with their first ever live album Skin and Bones, an acoustic set recorded at the Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles in August this year. English band Jamiroquai's collection High Time: Singles 1992-2006 enters the chart at No.19.

Meanwhile, last week's big movers continue their climb back up the charts. Wolfmother head the charge, up three spots to No.4, while Kylie Minogue's Ultimate Kylie goes from No.16 to No.8 on the strength of her Showgirl Homecoming Tour, after 18 months off recovering from cancer.

My Chemical Romance slip six places from their No.3 debut last week.