JACK AND JACKO!

It’s not a presidential ticket or even a brand of baby powder, it’s the top two finishers on this week’s HITS Album sales chart, Jack Johnson and Michael Jackson.

Johnson’s Brushfire/Universal Republic album Sleep Through the Static spends its third consecutive week at #1, churning up 106k in sales, turning back Jackson’s Thriller 25th Anniversary deluxe package on Sony Legacy, which comes in at #2 with 55k.

Razor & Tie’s Kidz Bop Kids 13 is the highest-charting newcomer at #4, while Capitol Nashville’s Chris Cagle enters at #9.

The rest of the Top 10 includes J’s Alicia Keys (#3), who hasn’t left the Top 5 since the album’s release last year, Universal Republic’s Amy Winehouse (#5), Atlantic’s Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack (#6), Epic’s surging Sara Bareilles, which goes #22-7, +17%, Rhino’s Juno (#8) and Geffen’s Mary J. Blige (#10).

Columbia/Canvasback/Sony Music Soundtrax’s Oscar-winning Once re-enters the chart at #22, with 23k in sales.

Koch’s Jim Jones (#24) and Glassnote’s Second Hand Serenade (#37) are the other new Top 50 entries.

Eleven Seven Music’s Buckcherry (#42), WB’s Linkin Park (#43), XL/Beggars Group’s Vampire Weekend (#44), Capitol’s J. Holiday (#47), Roadrunner’s Nickelback (#48) and Interscope’s Soulja Boy Tell’Em (#49) all re-enter the Album sales chart.

Other notable chart jumps are taken by Razor & Tie’s Alvin & the Chipmunks (#28-16), Pearl Records’ Garth Brooks (#26-18), Universal Republic’s Colbie Caillat (#27-20), EMI’s Now 26 (#38-21), Interscope’s Across the Universe (#33-23), Mercury Nashville’s Sugarland (#37-30), Atlantic’s Lupe Fiasco (#42-31) and Def Jam/IDJ’s The-Dream (#46-33).

Next week, IDJ’s new Janet Jackson album, Discipline, will undoubtedly top the chart, with Universal Motown’s Erykah Badu, Asylum’s Webbie and Shawty Lo, as well as DPR’s Dolly Parton also hitting the streets at press time. Mariah Carey’s eagerly awaited IDJ album E=MC2, with a hit single already in “Touch My Body,” reaches retail April 15. And not a moment too soon, we might add.