Without the help of any 9/11 release date battle or publicity beef, Grammy award winning songstress Alicia Keys debuted her third release, As I Am, at the #1 spot on the charts this week selling a staggering 743k in its first week.

Capitol Records' Now 26 compilation CD, which features tracks from today's hottest artists including Kanye West, J. Holiday and Fabolous, debuted at #4 with just over 208k sold.  

Although debuting at #1 last week, Jay-Z's American Gangster concept album suffered a 69.3% loss in sales. Hova sold 131k and landed the #8 spot this week.  With similar misfortune, Cassidy's B.A.R.S (which held the #10 spot for its first week) had a 72.4% sales decline bumping him down to #62 with 17k sold.

After winning an American Music Award for best rap group, Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony debuted T.H.U.G.S with disappointing numbers selling 15k, placing them at #73 in their first week.

Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)

Rank       Artist                  Album                       #'s Sold This Week       #'s Sold Total
1       ALICIA KEYS         AS I AM                          742,426                         743,612  
4       VARIOUS                  NOW 26                       208,043                         208,154
8       JAY-Z            AMERICAN GANGSTER       130,577                         556,438
10     CHRIS BROWN   EXCLUSIVE                    109,601                         404,635
26     KEYSHIA COLE     JUST LIKE YOU            44,881                          622,875

Other Notables…

Rank       Artist                   Album                       #'s Sold This Week      #'s Sold Total
27    BOYS II MEN    MOTOWN: A JOURNEY          41,723                       41,784
34    KANYE WEST        GRADUATION                     30,436                   1,674,637
66    50 CENT                    CURTIS                              16,649                   1,103,559
73  BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY  T.H.U.G.S            15,233                       15,265