BE DARNED YE OF LITTLE FAITH...

You gotta have a little faith—and this week, America got a lot of Faith, as U.S. consumers put country queen Faith Hill at the top of HITS slag heap. Warner Bros.’ golden gal debuts #1, with a total of 312k units sold. “Faith Hill’s return to her country roots easily tops our chart this week,” says Hastings’ George Deahl. “She’s a genuine superstar and this record should be around for the rest of the year.”

Capitol’s Now That's What I Call Music 19 dropped one spot to #2, but the compilation of this summer’s best still sold a healthy 177k. Island/IDJ’s Mariah Carey holds onto the #3 position with a drop of only 1% in sales at 98k. And Def Jam South/IDJ’s Young Jeezy (no relation to Kraft’s Cheese Weezy) has plenty of “motivation” to remain true to his “Thug” roots, as he drop from #2 to #4 but still sells an impressive 77k.

Debuts take the next two spots: MusicLine/Roc-a-Fella/IDJ’s Teairra Mari hits big (as Yahoo! Music so humbly predicted) at #5, with 69k sold (and we bet she’s one helluva speller, too) and—the big surprise, really—Razor & Tie’s Kidz Bop Kids 8 compilation taking the #5 spot, with 65k. (We at HITS can identify with the latter’s title; just replace the words “Kidz” and “Kids” with “Morons” and you’ll catch the drift...)

Rounding out the Top 10: Capitol’s Coldplay at #7, with 64k; A&M/Interscope’s Blackeyed Peas at #8, with 60k; RCA/RMG’s Kelly Clarkson at #9 (and actually jumping two spots—the power of touring!—with a 10% sales increase) with 59k; and those darn Gorillaz (Virgin) proving they’re one of the season’s biggest success stories, taking the #10 spot, with 53k units sold.

Other major debuts: Epic’s Natasha (“No Boris jokes, please!”) Bedingfield hitting #16, with 34k; Columbia’s The Dukes Of Hazzard soundtrack at #34 (yee-hah!), with 29k (proving the power of a strong opening weekend and, um, Jessica Simpson's "Boots"); Def Jam/IDJ’s rap pioneers Public Enemy debuting a new compilation at #46, with 21k; and Tooth & Nail’s Emery coming in at #50, with 19k.

Look for debuts next week from Staind, Tommy Lee and Nickel Creek.