RUBEN’S RED-HOT!!

Winner Ruben Studdard’s J Records bow, Soulful, landed atop the HITS album chart this week, scoring more than 400k in first-week sales, nudging out last week’s #1, labelmate Alicia Keys, who landed at #2.

Studdard didn’t match his American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken’s opening week total of 600k, but it was still an impressive start.

Ya think Clive Davis knows a li’l something about divas?

As the holiday season moves into full swing, titles were up across the board, with Columbia/CRG’s Now Vol. 14 (#3), DreamWorks Nashville’s Toby Keith (#4) and 143/Reprise’s Josh Groban (#5) all showing increases from 13-40% in rounding out the Top Five.

Tower Records' Kevin Hawkins said: "The American Idol brand continues to deliver. Clive really knows how to get a juggernaut rolling. But overall sales were strong this week as we head into the holidays, with most titles trending upwards. Is it 2004 yet?"

The rest of the Top 10 included Arista’s OutKast (#6), J Records’ Rod Stewart (#7, up a whopping 92%), Buena Vista/Hollywood’s Hilary Duff (#8), A&M/Interscope’s Sheryl Crow (#9) and Def Soul/IDJ’s debuting Musiq (#10).

Other chart newcomers included Hoo-Bangin/Capitol’s Westside Connection (#16), Geffen’s Avant (#17), Cash Money/Universal’s Big Tymers (#19), Star Trak/Arista’s Kelis (#25), Columbia/CRG’s The Offspring (#27), Island/IDJ’s Hoobastank (#35) and Lava/Atl G’s perennial Trans-Siberian Orchestra (#41).

In all, 24 titles sold more than 100k. Aside from Rod Stewart, who also placed his first Great American Songbook at #44, major gains were posted by Arista Nashville’s Alan Jackson (+46%), Wind-up’s Evanescence (+57%), WB’s Linkin Park (+48%), Columbia/CRG’s Beyoncé (+45%), Walt Disney Records’ Cheetah Girls soundtrack (+53%), Blue Note’s Norah Jones (+40%), Mercury/IDJ’s Shania Twain (+45%) and WB’s Red Hot Chili Peppers (+43%).

Next week, look for Jive’s Joe, Roc-A-Fella/IDJ’s Memphis Bleek and Universal’s Raekwon to hit the Top 50.