CHICKEN & BEER HERE!!

Nothing like a little price break to stimulate the economy.

Getting off to a nice JUMPstart, thanks to UMG’s innovative new $12.98 MSRP pricing program, Def Jam South/IDJ Dirty South rapper Ludacris helps himself to a heap of Chicken N Beer sales. The album debuts at #1 on 430k+ in sales, also fueled by huge airplay on "Stand Up."

Homers’ Rick Galusha licked his fingers, cleared the feathers out of his throat and clucked: "Ludacris had great out-of-the-box sales, as expected. It’s been a couple of years, but his fan base is still there in force. Now will you pass that 40 over, please?"

That was more than enough to top the previous leaders, fellow southern hip-hoppers OutKast, whose two-CD Arista set falls to #2, just ahead of the week’s other big release, BMG Heritage’s Elvis: 2^nd to None compilation at #3, giving BMG two of the top three albums and five of the top seven overall, an impressive showing for the gang from Gutersloh.

Added Galusha: "OutKast just keeps on coming. It’s finding its level and we don’t think it’s going to go away any time soon. And what can you say about Elvis? The king lives. And his fans do, too. I just don’t want to run into any of them in a dark alley, if you know what I mean."

The rest of the Top 10 includes Arista’s Dido (#4), RCA’s Dave Matthews (#5), A&M/Interscope’s Sting (#6), Jive’s R. Kelly (#7), Roadrunner/IDJ’s Nickelback (#8), Buena Vista/Hollywood’s Hilary Duff (#9) and Flip/Interscope’s Limp Bizkit (#10).

Among the chart newcomers are Death Row’s 2Pac remixes (#11), TVT’s Sevendust (#14), WB’s Static-X (#20), Sanctuary’s RZA (#26), Roadrunner/IDJ’s MTV2 Headbangers Ball (#32), Interscope’s Primus (#36) and Epic’s Howie Day (#40), whose "Perfect Time of Day" is garnering multi-format support.

Double-digit increases are registered by Shady/Aftermath/Interscope’s 50 Cent (+10%), WB’s Linkin Park (+13%) and So So Def/Arista’s YoungBloodz (+12%).

Next week, it’s time to Idol, as RCA’s runner-up Clay Aiken gets set to grab the top slot with Columbia’s Jagged Edge eyeing the runner-up position.