Fans were clearly jonesing for Norah Jones.
The jazz-pop warbler gave retailers a shot in the arm as her new album, Not Too Late, arrived just in time to score a monster chart-topping bow. For the week ended Sunday, the disc sold north of 405,000 copies, according to the Nielsen SoundScan figures, nearly quadruple the sales of runner-up Katharine McPhee.
Jones broke huge with 2002's Come Away with Me, which sold nearly 10 million albums and virtually swept the Grammy Awards. The Big Apple songbird followed with the multiplatinum Feels Like Home in 2004, which sold an astonishing 1.02 million first-week copies and held down the top spot for six straight weeks. Most recently, Jones restocked her trophy case with fresh Grammys for her Ray Charles duet, "Here We Go Again."
McPhee, who finished second to Taylor Hicks on last season's American Idol, played also-ran again as her self-titled debut sold 116,000 copies at number two. But she sold enough to keep fellow Idol alum Chris Daughtry and his eponymous band at number three.
The Irish sextet Celtic Woman landed the third and final Top 10 bow with A New Journey, which sold 71,000 copies at number four. The group's 2005 debut studio album set a record by topping Billboard's World Music chart for a staggering 68 weeks.
The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers: Pretty Ricky's Late Night Special at five, Akon's Konvicted at six, the Dreamgirls soundtrack at seven, the Shins' Wincing the Night Away at eight, Robin Thicke's Evolution of Robin Thicke at nine and the 2007 Grammy Nominees at 10.
Meanwhile, Harry Connick Jr.'s Oh, My Nola opened at 11, selling 44,000 copies. That's just a hair better than Jill Scott Collaborations, which sold about 100 fewer copies at 12. Scott's duets disc pairs the soulful singer with the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Will Smith, Kirk Franklin and the Isley Brothers.
Madonna's CD/DVD The Confessions Tour followed at 15, selling 40,000 discs, while new British It singer Lily Allen, known for her hit "Smile," moved 34,000 copies of Alright, Still, to debut at 20.
Other noteworthy newbies included Totally Country, Vol. 6 at 18, Wow Gospel 2007 at 21, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Some Loud Thunder at 47, Paolo Nutini's These Streets at 48, Tracy Lawrence's For the Love at 53, the Alkaline Trio's Remains at 64 and jazz saxophonist Dave Koz at 86 with his horny renditions of film classics, At the Movies.
Meanwhile, Michael Bubblé's It's Time celebrates its two-year anniversary on the Billboard 200 this week at number 110. The disc sold another 9,000 copies in its 104th week, bringing its total tally to nearly 2.25 million.
The arrival of Jones and McPhee helped kick up album sales about 10 percent from last week, but in another bad sign for the music biz, overall CD sales were down nearly 15 percent from this time last year.
Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:
1. Not Too Late, Norah Jones
2. Katharine McPhee, Katharine McPhee
3. Daughtry, Daughtry
4. A New Journey, Celtic Woman
5. Late Night Special, Pretty Ricky
6. Konvicted, Akon
7. Dreamgirls soundtrack, various
8. Wincing the Night Away, the Shins
9. Evolution of Robin Thicke, Robin Thicke
10. 2007 Grammy Nominees, various