"Lollipop" purveyor Lil Wayne takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
Despite strong showings by Beck and the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III was the No. 1 album for the third time in five weeks. The New Orleans MC moved another 125,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan.
Lil Wayne has tied Alicia Keys and Jack Johnson for the most weeks at No. 1 this year.
Meanwhile, after two weeks at No. 1, Coldplay dropped behind Lil Wayne, selling 113,000 copies at No. 2.
While Wayne and Coldplay tussle up top, the Jonas Brothers-led Camp Rock soundtrack remained locked at No. 3 for a fourth straight week.
Among the top debuts, Beck's Modern Guilt led the way at No. 4 with sales of 84,000. The '60s-channeling Danger Mouse collaboration—which sold 31,000 downloads to top the Digital Albums chart—enters the Billboard 200 three spots higher than 2006's The Information. That disc, however, sold 15,000 more first-week copies.
The soundtrack to the big-screen version of Mamma Mia!, featuring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, took the ABBA songbook to No. 7 on 48,000 copies. The film opens Friday against The Dark Knight (good luck with that).
Outside the Top 10, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis sold 22,000 copies of Two Men With the Blues to open at No. 20. Los Temerarios' Si Tu Te Vas and Maine's Can't Stop Won't Stop followed at Nos. 26 and 40, respectively.
Overall, sales were down 3 percent from last week and down nearly 10 percent compared to the same week in 2007. Year-to-date sales are likewise down 14 percent.
Here's a rundown of the Top 10:
1. Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne
2. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay
3. Camp Rock soundtrack, various
4. Modern Guilt, Beck
5. Rock N Roll Jesus, Kid Rock
6. Now That's What I Call Music! 28, various
7. Mamma Mia! sountrack, various
8. Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna
9. T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight), G-Unit
10. Where the Light Is, John Mayer