Sergio Dionisio/Getty ImagesDefinitely no sucking in Kelly Clarkson's life right now.
Reclaiming her place atop the charts, the inaugural American Idol champ just landed her latest, All I Ever Wanted, at No. 1, selling 255,000 copies for the week ended Sunday.
On the flip side, the Soul Patrol looks like it has been hit by massive layoffs as another Idol alum, Taylor Hicks, saw The Distance going anything but. The season-five champ sold just 9,000 copies of his sophomore disc for a No. 58 bow, the worst first week ever by an Idol winner. Just over two years ago, the gray-haired crooner became only the third Idol to top both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts.
Guess which one was invited back last week for an Idol homecoming?
Clarkson is back on track after her stock plummeted in the wake of 2007's My December. Though it sold 291,000 first-week copies for a No. 2 debut, the album's total sales were a fraction of the take for Breakaway and her chart-topping debut, Thankful.
The Grammy-winning songbird regrouped quickly. She canceled her tour plans, switched managers (to Reba McEntire's husband, Narvel Blackstock) and reconnected with top songwriters/producers like Max Martin, Dr. Luke and Ryan Tedder.
The move reaped immediate rewards as All I Ever Wanted's lead single, "My Life Would Suck Without You," became the first nondebut Idol-spawned single to top the Hot 100. Up to that point, only season-finale tunes ever reached No. 1.
Meawhile, in a week that saw four Top 10 debuts, The-Dream managed to nab the No. 2 spot, selling 151,000 copies of Love Vs. Money. The Peach State singer first made a name for himself as a songwriter, most notably penning Rihanna's Grammy-nominated "Umbrella." J. Holiday, who scored his own Dream hit with "Bed," followed at No. 4, selling 55,000 copies of Round 2.
U2's No Line on the Horizon, which topped last week's chart, was sandwiched between the two R&B stars with 132,000 at No. 3.
In his second album since departing Audioslave, former grunge icon Chris Cornell landed the fourth and final Top 10 bow with Scream. Produced by Timbaland, the quirky pop disc sold 26,000 copies at No. 10.
Just missing the Top 10, New Found Glory debuted at No. 12 with 23,000 copies of Not Without a Fight. The Punk Goes Pop 2 compilation followed at No. 15, with 16,000 discs.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs scored the final noteworthy debut this week as It's Blitz! sold 13,000 copies at No. 32. Karen O & Co. actually fared better with 2006's Show Your Bones, which debuted at No. 11.
Overall, sales were down 6 percent compared to last week and nearly 17 percent compared to the same week in 2008.
Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums based on stats from Nielsen SoundScan:
1. All I Ever Wanted, Kelly Clarkson
2. Love Vs. Money, The-Dream
3. No Line on the Horizon, U2
4. Round 2, J. Holiday
5. Fearless, Taylor Swift
6. The Fame, Lady Gaga
7. Dark Horse, Nickelback
8. I Am…Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé
9. Intuition, Jamie Foxx
10. Scream, Chris Cornell