21 HITS 11!

After a five-week absence, XL/Columbia U.K. pop diva Adele returns to the #1 spot for the 11th time since the album’s release earlier this year, adding another 76k to a total that is now past 2.7 million.

Razor & Tie’s Kidz Bop 20, the latest in its cottage industry of adolescents covering the hits of the day, debuts at #2 with 67k. Universal Republic Mississippi rockers 3 Doors Down’s Time of My Life debuts at #3, while Cash Money hip-hop star DJ Khaled’s We the Best Forever bows at #5, sandwiching Columbia’s Beyonce in the #4 slot.

ATO veteran skate-punk thrashers 311’s Universal Pulse is the other Top 10 newcomer at #6, followed by last week’s chart topper from Warner Bros. Nashville’s Blake Shelton (#7), Broken Bow’s resilient Jason Aldean (#8), Shady/Interscope’s Eminem-Royce Da 5”9” rap collabo Bad Meets Evil (#9) and Hollywood’s Selena Gomez & the Scene (#10).

The late Universal Republic Brit soul singer Amy Winehouse’s Grammy-winning Back to Black scores 22k over the weekend, good to re-enter at #14. The album had been #1 on iTunes, with her debut album, Frank, at #3 for most of the week. It will be interesting to see how the album will do after a full seven days in the marketplace.

New Top 50 entries include Suburban Noize’s Kottonmouth Kings (#38), Eleven Seven’s Cold (#39) and Idlewild Recordings’ accordion-wielding They Might Be Giants (#41).

Acony Americana singer/songwriter Gillian Welch’s The Harrow & the Harvest shows the biggest double-digit gain (#46-34, +34%), followed by Capitol/EMI’s Katy Perry (#24-17, +17%), Startime/Columbia’s Foster the People (#34-31, +15%) and Interscope’s Lady Gaga (#13-11, +13%).

Hitting retail this week are Capitol Nashville act Eric Church, Universal Republic’s Kelly Rowland, eOne’s Wu-Tang Clan, Def Jam/IDJ’s Frank Ocean, Surfdog Records’ Joss Stone and Time-Life Music’s Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business album.