Ludacris Debuts At No. 3 With Word Of Mouf

NEW YORK (Top 40 Charts) - Ludacris' new album Word of Mouf had a respectable opening week on The Billboard 200, selling 281,823 copies, but, up against Creed's Weathered and Now That's What I Call Music! 8, those numbers garnered the rapper no better than a No. 3 showing.

Creed remained at No. 1 for the second week in a row, chalking up week-two sales figures of 417,463. Now remained at No. 2 behind 353,079 scans.

In other top 10 action, Garth Brooks' Scarecrow remained at No. 4; Britney Spears' Britney dropped from No. 3 to No. 5; Busta Rhymes' Genesis landed at No. 7 in its first week; and Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Extraordinare popped into the No. 8 spot from No. 15 last week.

Other notable debuts include The Concert for New York, featuring Paul McCartney, Elton John, and David Bowie, at No. 27; Smash Mouth's Smash Mouth at No. 48; the soundtrack to Ali, featuring R. Kelly, Alicia Keys, and Angie Stone, at No. 125; and Luis Miguel's Mis Romances at No. 126.

Next week, the excitement gets greater as greatest hits from Ice Cube, OutKast and Mariah Carey join new sets from Nate Dogg, Fat Joe and Mack 10 and a remixed Limp Bizkit.