"Now" Dogs DMX

For DMX, it's the year of getting dogged.

DMX's record string of chart-topping debuts came to an end as his latest, Year of the Dog...Again, was upset in the 11th hour by Now! That's What I Call Music! 22. Fewer than 1,000 copies separated the two discs, with Now! 22 finishing on top with 127,000 in sales for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The hardcore hip-hop star's post-retirement album was expected to take the top spot, and had been ahead in the tally for most of last week, leading some online outlets to jump the gun and hail Dog as number one. But when the smoke cleared, the rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, came up short, moving approximately 126,000 for the week.

DMX was looking to extend his run of number one opening weeks, having gone five-for-five with each of his previous releases, beginning with his first solo album, 1998's It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, up through 2003's Grand Champ--a feat never before accomplished.

It's been a rough few months for DMX. His comeback album was delayed, as he switched labels from Def Jam to Columbia Records, tracks for Year of the Dog...Again were repeatedly leaked on the Internet, and he faced his usual jam-packed court docket. And for those keeping score at home, 2006 is indeed the Year of the Dog on the Chinese calendar, as was DMX's birth year of 1970, which explains his canine fixation.

Following at number three on the Billboard 200 was Kidz Bop 10 with over 116,000 in sales, a series best. Marketed heavily to TV channels popular with pre-teens, the album features kid-sung remakes of modern pop songs, many of which appear on Now! 22. The first series installment debuted in October 2001.

The metalheads of Stone Sour opened at number four, selling 81,000 copies of their sophomore release, Come What(ever) May. The group, featuring unmasked Slipknot members Corey Taylor (vocals) and James Root (guitar), actually formed in '92, prior to Slipknot, yet disbanded in '97 without releasing an album. Stone Sour relaunched in 2002 with a platinum-selling self-titled debut.

Five for Fighting sold 52,000 copies of Two Lights to land the fourth and final Top 10 bow at number eight.

Rounding out the Top 10 were familiar faces: Tom Petty's Highway Companion at six, Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere at seven, Pharrell's In My Mind at nine and Nickelback's All the Right Reasons at 10.

Missing from that list were two mainstays. After 17 straight weeks in the Top 10, Rascal Flatts' Me and My Gang slipped two spots to number 12. And the High School Musical soundtrack fell five spots to 11 in its 44th week. The Disney-spawned soundtrack, which opened at 143 in January, steadily climbed to number one by March and had remained a Top 10 staple since.

Elsewhere, bluesy rocker G. Love landed at 39 with Lemonade; the Pink Spiders' Teenage Graffiti checked in at 84, Steely Dan's Definitive Collection opened at 92 and Christian rockers Audio Adrenaline's Adios: Greatest Hits entered at 104.

Overall sales continue to trend down from last year; the week's CD sales fell 13 percent off the mark from the same week in 2005 and year-to-date sales are off 6 percent.

Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:

1. Now That's What I Call Music! 22, various
2. Year of the Dog...Again, DMX
3. Kidz Bop 10, Kidz Bop
4. Come What(ever) May, Stone Sour
5. LeToya, LeToya
6. Highway Companion, Tom Petty
7. St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley
8. Two Lights, Five for Fighting
9. In My Mind, Pharrell
10. All the Right Reasons, Nickelback