Green Day edges Eminem to top the album chart

The Billboard top 10 for the week ending Jan. 9 is a tale of two Americans: On one end of the spectrum, Green Day?s American Idiot reclaimed the top spot by moving slightly more than 100,000 copies, while on the other, original American Idol Kelly Clarkson inched her way back from No. 13 to No. 10, with sales of 67,000.

Of course, Eminem came thisclose to blowing the entire American bookends trend right out of the water. His Encore fell short of holding onto the No. 1 slot for a second consecutive week by a mere 200 copies. Rounding out the top five were: Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz? Crunk Juice with 80,000; John Legend?s Get Lifted with 75,000; and Ludacris? Red Light District at 74,000.

Filling the positions between Ludacris and Clarkson were Destiny?s Child?s Destiny Fulfilled, Shania Twain?s Greatest Hits collection, MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Presents Jay-Z and Linkin Park: Collision Course, and Usher?s Confessions.

While sales for most of the discs in the top 10 were as icy as a New England flagpole — plummeting somewhere between 30 and 50 percent from the previous week — one CD in the Billboard 200 managed to turn up the heat for a second straight week. Indeed, the Garden State soundtrack leapt from No. 55 to No. 22, up 21 percent to 44,000 copies.