A man's confession is apparently no match for a woman's testimony.
In a week dominated by two new releases, India.Arie's Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Friendship outshone Dashboard Confessional's Dusk & Summer to open at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The Grammy-winning songstress moved 161,000 copies of her third album to edge out Dashboard Confessional, who racked up 134,000 in sales for the week ended Sunday, per Nielsen SoundScan. The figures were personal bests for both acts.
Testimony is also Arie's first chart-topper. Her previous two albums, 2001's Acoustic Soul and 2002's Voyage to India, both opened in the Top 10, with the latter marking her previous one-week sales high with 109,000. The R&B star is currently rolling the FM dial with the Akon-featured single "I Am Not My Hair" and she also appeared on last week's BET Awards.
Meanwhile, Dashboard's last album, 2004's A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar, sold 122,000 first-week copies to open under Alan Jackson's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2.
No other major debuts cracked the upper chart echelon. Last week's number one, Nelly Furtado's Loose, slipped two spots to number three, followed by the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way. While their tour might be suffering setbacks in certain regions, the Chicks remain consistent on the charts--Long Way's been a Top 5 staple in its first six weeks, selling nearly 1.3 million copies.
A pair of former Top 10ers also made their return: Rihanna's Girl Like Me jumped seven spots to number five, and Rascal Flatts' Me & My Gang wrangled up four positions to seven.
The remaining Top 10 regulars were: Gnarls Barkley climbing to a new high of six with St. Elsewhere, Busta Rhymes' The Big Bang at eight, the High School Musical soundtrack at nine and the Cars soundtrack parked at 10 for a second straight week.
Just missing the Top 10 by about 3,000 copies, Chi-town rapper Shawnna's Block Music debuted at 13 with 47,000 copies. Hank Williams Jr. also opened strong at 16, selling 39,000 copies of That's How They Do It in Dixie: The Essential Collection.
Lostprophets' Liberation Transmission opened at 33 in the States, while topping the U.K. charts, a first for the Welsh rockers.
Other notable debuts included Julie Roberts' Men & Mascara at 25, Tha Dogg Pound at 28 with the Snoop Dogg-produced Cali Iz Active, the reggaeton-driven ROC La Familia and Hector Bambino "El Father" Present Los Rompe Discotekas at 34, Ray Cash's C.O.D. (Cash On Delivery) at 41, Kierra "Kiki" Sheard's This Is Me at 90 and Wayman Tisdale's Way Up! at 116.
And with the DVD hitting the retail racks, the Madea's Family Reunion soundtrack reentered the charts at 135 with almost a quadruple sales boost. Total sales for the soundtrack currently sit just under 200,000 copies.
Overall sales were up down 12 percent from this same period in 2005; year-to-date sales continue to lag behind last year by about 4 percent.
Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:
1. Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Friendship, India.Arie
2. Dusk & Summer, Dashboard Confessional
3. Loose, Nelly Furtado
4. Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
5. Girl Like Me, Rihanna
6. St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley
7. Me & My Gang, Rascal Flatts
8. The Big Bang, Busta Rhymes
9. High School Musical soundtrack, various
10. Cars soundtrack, various