Usher Spoils Wilson's "Party"

It's official: Usher is now the year's biggest party stopper.

The R&B star, whose Confessions has dominated the 2004 charts, locking down the number one spot now seven of eight weeks in release, held off redneck-loving songbird Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party by a mere 1,000 copies on the newest Billboard Top 200 rundown.

For the week ended Sunday, Confessions sold 228,000 discs to Party's 227,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released today.

Nevertheless, Wilson gave Usher a surprising run for his money, considering this was just her rookie release. Raised in a rural town just east of St. Louis, Wilson has been burning up country radio with "Redneck Woman," the quickest lead single by a new artist to top the country radio charts since "Achy Breaky Heart" in 1992.

Charting right behind Wilson at number three were southern rappers 8-Ball & MJG, who moved nearly 121,000 copies of their Bad Boy debut, Living Legends. The rap duo's disc features appearances by Twista, P. Diddy, Ludacris and the recently incarcerated TI, as well as production by Lil Jon and Big Boi.

Teena Marie landed the week's third and final Top 10 bow, checking in at number six with 75,000 copies of La Dona--the R&B legend's first album of new material in more than 10 years. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Marie released 10 albums between 1979 and 1994, and her latest will be her first for Cash Money Records.

D12 World, the only other disc to top the charts over the past eight weeks, fell to number four as the Eminem-led group sold another 117,000 copies. Meanwhile, Hoobastank's The Reason climbed one spot to five, despite selling 11,000 fewer discs than the previous week. The Reason sold 80,000 last week.

Prince--who drew fire for bundling his new album with concert tickes, thus padding his album sales--sharply dropped on the charts during his first tour break. Having remained solid for three weeks at number three, the Purple One's first week off caused Musicology to slide four spots to number seven with 69,000 copies, a 81,000-copy dip.

The remaining Top 10, all repeaters, were: Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 15 at eight, Mario Winans' Hurt No More at nine and Petey Pablo's Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry in the 10 spot.

In other debut action, Killswitch Engage landed at 21 as End of Heartache sold 37,000 copies. Meanwhile, with Shrek 2 opening in theaters Wednesday, its soundtrack opened on the charts at 36 with nearly 26,000 copies sold. The compilation features tracks by Counting Crows, Dashboard Confessional, Eels, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Pete Yorn, David Bowie and newcomers Butterfly Boucher and Rich Price. Wynonna Judd's What the World Needs Now Is Love was next up, opening at 46 with 21,000 copies.

Other noteworthy releases include Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething at 97, Jay Z's Black Album (Acapella) at 106, the Mega Movie Mix compilation at 139, pro surfer Donavon Frankenreite's eponymous debut at 165, Thronley's Come Again at 167 and the score to reigning box-office champ, Troy, at 175.

Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:

1. Confessions, Usher
2. Here for the Party, Gretchen Wilson
3. Living Legends, 8-Ball & MJG
4. D12 World, D12
5. The Reason, Hoobastank
6. La Dona, Teena Marie
7. Musicology, Prince
8. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 15, various
9. Hurt No More, Mario Winans
10. Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry, Petey Pablo