Strait Shoots Past Usher

Usher was thisclose to reclaiming the top slot on the Billboard album chart. But when the dust settled, that cowboy crooner George Strait lassoed away the number one position.

Early Wednesday, the sales-tracking folks at Nielsen SoundScan reported that, in one of the year's closest chart finishes, Usher's revamped Confessions (the disc includes new artwork, a DVD and new tracks, including the R&B crooner's new radio hit, a remix of "My Boo" with Alicia Keys) edged out Strait's 50 Number Ones by a mere 5,000 discs, 336,000 copies to 331,000.

But before you could say hold your horses, Strait was back on top thanks to a tallying faux pas. SoundScan's new numbers showed that Strait's latest greatest-hits collection actually moved 343,000 to Usher's 336,000.

The title of Strait's new compilation of country radio hits is actually a misnomer: The disc features a new track, "I Hate Everything," which recently hit the top spot itself--which technically means the disc features 51 number ones.

"This is the kind of problem you want to have," Strait said in a release. "Country radio has been great to me my whole career. I can't thank those folks enough for making my album title a lie. It's because of their support and the great fans that I?m lucky enough to be able to make music and celebrate this milestone in my career."

Strait's new disc also topped Billboard's Top Country Albums rundown, extending his record to 18 chart-topping country releases.

Strait's previous best-of collection, Latest Greatest Straitest Hits, opened at number two on the Billboard 200 pop chart in 2000.

With Strait and Usher leading the pack, Rascal Flatts' Feels Like Today got bounced to number eight on 82,000 copies, down nearly 120,000 from last weeks' chart-topping debut.

Good Charlotte's The Chronicles of Life & Death made an impressive bow at number three with 198,000. The disc comes in two flavors, Life and Death, which feature different cover art and bonus track on each.

Korn followed at number four with its first compilation, Greatest Hits, Vol. 1. The 19-track disc features a handful of new songs, including a cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 1-3)."

Meanwhile, Nelly's two latest discs continue to separate on the charts. In their fourth week, Suit stayed put at five with 122,000, a slight gain, while Sweat dropped from the Top 10, selling 64,000 copies at number 12.

The rest of the Top 10, all holdovers, included Hilary Duff's self-titled at six, Green Day's American Idiot at seven, Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying at nine, and Ciara's Goodies in the ten spot.

R.E.M., who recently wrapped the Vote for Change tour, sold 61,000 copies of the band's 13th studio album, Around the Sun to land at, appropriately enough, number 13. The disc also comes as a deluxe special edition with several posters.

Also making big bows were Cake's Pressure Chief at 17, Totally Hits 2004, Vol. 2 at 19 and Tom Waits' Real Gone at 28. Noteworthy debuts outside the Top 40 included I-20's Self Explanatory at 42, Wow Hits 2005 at 44, John Denver's Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits at 52 and Tobymac's Welcome to Diverse City at 42.

In another photo finish, Raphael Saadiq's Ray Ray inched past De La Soul's Grind Date by 62 copies as the albums finished 86th and 87th, respectively. Lastly, Helmet's comeback album, Size Matters, debuted at 121, while Fatboy Slim's Palookaville danced its way to 149.

To recap, the Top 10 albums of last week were:

1. 50 Number Ones, George Strait
2. Confessions, Usher
3. The Chronicles of Life & Death, Good Charlotte
4. Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, Korn
5. Suit, Nelly
6. Hilary Duff, Hilary Duff
7. American Idiot, Green Day
8. Feels Like Today, Rascal Flatts
9. Live Like You Were Dying, Tim McGraw
10. Goodies, Ciara