CASTING CROWNS CROWNED #1

Sony Music-distributed Provident Christian rockers Casting Crowns, the veteran Grammy and Dove award-winning band, debut at #1 this week with 112k, enough to turn back XL/Columbia phenom Adele’s 21, which soars above 4 million with another 106k in sales in its 35th week on the chart, only one spent below #3.

Mercury Nashville/19/Interscope Idol winner Scotty McCreery remains solid at #3 with another 55k to its three week total of 340k.

Last week’s chart-topper, Wind-up’s Evanescence (#4) and Columbia’s Tony Bennett (#5) round out the Top 5, the latter giving Doug Morris’ SME three of the Top Five, and Stringer/Barnett’s Team Columbia two of them.

Kedar Entertainment’s Joe album, The Good The Bad The Sexy, is the week’s other new entry at #8, with Cash Money/Universal Republic’s Lil Wayne (#6), Capitol Nashville/EMI’s Lady Antebellum (#7), Prospect Park/EMI Label Services’ Five Finger Death Punch (#9) and Mercury Nashville/19/Interscope’s Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina (#10) rounding out the leader board.

Capitol/EMI’s Jane’s Addictions is the next-highest new chart entry at #11 with their fourth studio album, The Great Escape Artist, followed by Mute’s French electronica outfit M83 (#21), Big Machine’s Brantley Gilbert (#30), Puscifer Entertainment’s Puscifer (#33), Stax’s Lalah Hathaway (#34), Vanguard’s Chris Isaak (#43), Island/IDJ’s Patrick Stump (#44) and Average Joe’s Montgomery Gentry (#46).

The chart’s top double-digit gainer is Atlantic’s Footloose soundtrack, which moves #16-14, +13%, followed by A&M/Octone act Maroon 5, climbing #37-27, +10%, thanks in large part to NBC’s The Voice-spawned “Moves Like Jagger” smash.

This week’s Monday releases include Capitol/EMI’s Coldplay, 19/RCA’s Kelly Clarkson, Show Dog’s Toby Keith, Reprise’s Michael Buble Christmas album, MCA Nashville’s Vince Gill and Anti-’s Tom Waits.