SCHOOL’S IN FOR WINTER: DISNEY SOUNDTRACK SCORES #1

They’re going to Disneyland or Disney World or wherever you go when you graduate to #1 on the HITS Top 50 album chart.

Riding a wave of online sales and Radio Disney airplay, Walt Disney Records’ High School Musical soundtrack gives its remarkable story another chapter by landing on top of this week’s tally with a robust total of 106k.

That was enough to beat back Razor & Tie’s own pubescent entry in Kidz Bop 9, which bowed at #2 with the series’ highest first-week total yet in almost 99k.

The rest of the Top 10 was pretty static, with Jack Johnson & Friends’ Curious George soundtrack on Brushfire/Universal at #3, followed by Geffen’s Mary J. Blige (#4), Custard/Atlantic’s James Blunt (#5), Arista/RMG’s Barry Manilow (#6), Decca/Universal Classics’ Andrea Bocelli (#7), Shady/Aftermath/Interscope’s Eminem (#8), Arista/RMG’s Carrie Underwood (#9) and last week’s chart-topper, WB’s Jaheim at #10.

The other big story of the week was Domino’s Arctic Monkeys, who bowed at #28 with a more-than-impressive 33k sales total, building throughout the week to a fine finish.

The other chart debut was by Motown/Universal’s Madea’s Family Reunion soundtrack to Oprah fave Tyler Perry’s film of the same name, which topped the motion picture box office this week.

Meanwhile, Epic’s Natasha Bedingfield returns to the charts at #37, fueled by Top 40 airplay for the single, “Unwritten.”

Aside from High School Musical, which was up 12%, the only member of the Top 50 to show upwards movement from the week before was VP/Atlantic dancehall vet Sean Paul, who went #33-21 with 9% boost.

Next week, Def Jam/IDJ’s Ne-Yo looks like a strong candidate for the #1 spot, with Victory’s Hawthorne Heights eyeing one of the largest debuts ever for an indie rock album. There’s also an Alan Jackson gospel disc on Arista Nashville and a live Kid Rock effort for Atlantic on tap.