JUNO’S RISING TO THE TOP

Rhino’s Juno, featuring the Moldy Peaches’ Kimya Dawson, Mott the Hoople and a 1977 children’s song, is #1 on the HITS Albums chart, leapfrogging past J Records diva Alicia Keys. The disc sold 66k to Keys’ 59k. The Fox Searchlight movie is on target to go over $100 million at the box office, too, with four nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Ellen Page), Best Director (Jason Reitman) and Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody). Not bad.

The week’s top debut is Epic’s dance songstress Natasha Bedingfield, whose Pocketful of Sunshine yields a total of 50k, good for #3.

Geffen’s Mary J. Blige (#4) and tbd/ATO/RED’s Radiohead (#5) round out the Top 5.

Other Top 10 entries include Big Machine’s Taylor Swift (#6), Jive/ZLG’s Chris Brown (#7, up 11%), Geffen’s Keyshia Cole (#13-8, +28%), Disney’s Hannah Montana 2 (#9) and Pearl’s Garth Brooks (#10, +19%).

The week’s other chart newcomers are Matador’s Cat Power (#15), Disney’s Radio Disney Jams 10 (#23) and RCA/RMG’s Chuck Wicks (#24).

A pair of Grammy nominees, Def Jam’s Rihanna (#44) and Roc-A-Fella/IDJ’s Kanye West (#50), return to the charts, as does Eleven Seven’s nearing-platinum rockers Buckcherry (#48).

Top double-digit gainers of the week include Razor & Tie’s Alvin and the Chipmunks (#12, +23%), Island/Mercury Nashville’s Sugarland (#13, +14%), RCA/RMG’s Daughtry (#19, +10%), Canvasback/Columbia’s Oscar and Grammy-nominated Once soundtrack (#30-20, +23%), Epic’s Sara Bareilles (#21, +12%), Hollywood’s Jonas Brothers (#30, +12%) and Interscope’s Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em (#36, +11%).

Next week, look for debuts from Brushfire/Universal Republic’s Jack Johnson, Virgin’s Lenny Kravitz and A&M’s Sheryl Crow, as the new releases start flowing.

The week after that, we should begin seeing sales spikes from the Grammys and a build-up to Valentine’s Day.

As the guys in Journey might say, keep on believing.