FLATTS ARE SHARP!

A year later, it Still Feels Good. After scoring with the highest first-week sales debut of the year in 2006, Lyric Street’s Rascal Flatts are at it again, topping a list of four first-timers on the chart.

The harmony-laded country rockers bow at #1 with their new album, scoring more than 556k, to finish ahead of Geffen’s Keyshia Cole, the R&B diva whose Just Like You rolls up a surprising 290k to finish at #2.

RCA/RMG alterna-rock mainstays Foo Fighters enter at #3, with Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace notching 173k, while Hidden Beach’s neo-soul diva Jill Scott lands at #4 with Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3.

Roc-A-Fella’s Kanye West stays in the Top 5 with 133k, while last week’s chart-topper, MCA Nashville’s Reba McEntire, makes it six albums on the charts featuring six-figure sales, as Duets comes in at #6 with 122k.

Island/IDJ’s Jagged Edge is the other Top 10 newcomer at #8, right behind Disney Records’ High School Musical 2.

The Top 10 is rounded out by Aftermath/Interscope’s 50 Cent (#9) and BNA/SBMG Nashville’s Kenny Chesney (#10).

Chart newcomers include Island/IDJ’s Melissa Etheridge (#11), Verve’s Queen Latifah (#13), Hear Music’s Joni Mitchell (#14), Burgundy/SBMG’s Chaka Khan (#16), Legacy’s Tony Bennett (#17), Bad Boy/Atlantic’s Gorilla Zoe (#19), EastWest/WB’s hard rockers Down, featuring former Pantera lead singer Phil Anselmo (#24), Columbia’s Chris Botti (#28), William Street’s Dethklok (#31) and Interscope’s will.i.am (#35).

Rascal Flatts’ previous album, Me and My Gang, re-enters at #42.

Interscope’s Feist continues to demonstrate the power of Apple’s iPod Nano TV spot by moving up #36-23, with a whopping 65% increase.

The other double-digit gainer of the week is Island/Mercury Nashville’s Sugarland, +37% at #47.

Next week, it’s time for a little Magic, as Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band return to the chart with their first album together in five years. Also on tap: ColliPark/ Interscope’s Soulja Boy, WB’s Faith Hill, Arista’s Annie Lennox, Atlantic’s Matchbox 20 and Music Line/Capitol’s J. Holiday.