LIONEL’S TRAIN KEEPS A-ROLLING

Veteran singer/songwriter Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee, his Mercury Nashville album of country duets, continues to surprise, with a second consecutive week at #1, selling another 111k for an impressive four-week total of 530k.

Atlantic tunesmith Jason Mraz’s Love is a Four Letter Word is the week’s top debut, selling 103k for #2.

XL/Columbia Grammy-sweeping diva Adele’s 21 is down just 3% on sales of 88k, bringing her remarkable cume to 8.8 million, on target for 10 million by mid-summer.

Columbia labelmates Train’s California 37 marks the band’s first release since Save Me, San Francisco, which included, among others, their smash single, “Hey, Soul Sister.” Its first-week sales of 74k are good for a #4 debut.

Syco/Columbia’s One Direction gives Team Stringer/ Barnett three in the Top 5 as Up All Night lands at #5.

YM/CM/Universal Republic’s Nicki Minaj (#6), Fairfax/Universal Republic’s Gotye (#7) and Redwing’s Bonnie Raitt (#9) also remain on the leader board, with Epic’s hip-hop newcomer Future (#8) and Brushfire/ Universal Republic’s Jack Johnson & Friends (#10) the other newcomers to the Top 10. The latter gives the label’s Monte Lipman three in the Top 10 as well.

TFK’s Thousand Foot Krutch (#14), Mercury/IDJ’s Neon Trees (#16), eOne’s SWV (#24), Columbia’s Chris Botti (#25) and Atlantic’s Eric Hutchinson (#27) debut in the Top 50, while sensibility’s The Civil Wars (#41) and Republic Nashville’s The Band Perry (#50) re-enter.

The week’s biggest double-digit gainers are Nonesuch’s The Black Keys (#35-18, +61%) and Epic’s soundtrack to the #1 box office hit Think Like a Man (#30-20, +14%).

Hitting retail stores this week are Third Man/Columbia’s Jack White solo bow, Mercury/IDJ’s The Wanted and MCA Nashville’s Kip Moore, while Carrie Underwood’s eagerly anticipated new Arista Nashville album, the aptly titled Blown Away, hits the following Tuesday, May 1.