BANKS SHOT!!

Rapper Lloyd Banks’ G-Unit/Interscope bow, The Hunger for More, proves a full meal for record buyers, debuting on top with 423k in first-week sales.

Banks is one of five newcomers to the Top 10, which includes Atlantic’s Brandy (#3), Universal’s Lil’ Wayne (#4), RCA/RMG’s Dave Matthews Band (#9) and Geffen’s The Cure (#10).

Wherehouse/Trans World’s Violet Brown finished buying up all the copies of the N.Y. Post with its front page story about John Kerry choosing Richard Gephardt as his running mate and selling them on eBay to boast: "It was a great week for Urban releases. Nine out of our Top 10 were Urban titles and all of them met our expectations. Nothing failed us. The G-Unit brand is going to stick around quite a while if they keep making really good records like the new Lloyd Banks. The upcoming Young Buck is yet another good record coming from the G-Unit camp."

LaFace/ZLG’s former chart champion Usher continues at #2, with last week’s winner, Interscope’s Jadakiss (#5), Capitol’s Beastie Boys (#6), Columbia/SMS’ Spider-Man 2 soundtrack (#7) and Epic/Sony Nashville’s Gretchen Wilson (#8) rounding out the leaders.

Among the other Top 50 chart debuts are Atlantic/Atl G’s Rush (#18), Hollywood’s Breaking Benjamin (#19), Capitol’s Slum Village (#26), Universal South’s Joe Nichols (#30), Victory’s Atreyu (#32), Next Plateau/Universal’s Nina Sky (#33), Octone/J/RMG’s Maroon 5 live acoustic EP (#34), Lava/Atl G’s Uncle Kracker (#43) and SRC/Universal’s Akon (#45).

Artists showing an increase of 15% or more include Or Music/Epic’s Los Lonely Boys (#14, +26%), Warner Bros. Nashville’s Big & Rich (#15, +30%), Cash Money/Universal’s Juvenile (#20, +20%), Columbia/CRG’s Switchfoot (#23, +15%) and BNA’s Kenny Chesney (#25, +19%).

Look for J/RMG soul diva Angie Stone to be the highest-debuting album on next week’s chart.