"Twilight" Soundtrack
Photo: Atlantic

After two weeks at #1, AC/DC's Black Ice — which has already broken the 1 million-sold barrier — has been bitten by the "Twilight" phenomenon.

The vampire flick opens next Friday, but before hitting the local cineplex, fans of the much-anticipated adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel hit their local record stores to pick up a copy of the movie's soundtrack, which features tracks by Muse, Perry Farrell, Paramore and Linkin Park.

The "Twilight" soundtrack debuts at #1 on next week's Billboard albums sales chart, having sold about 164,700 copies in its first week on store shelves. It becomes the year's third soundtrack to top the chart, following this summer's "Mamma Mia" soundtrack and the "Juno" set, which was released in 2007, but climbed to #1 in January. According to the latest sales totals compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, AC/DC's latest falls one spot to #2, with 159,500 week-three scans reported.

"Twilight" was among 17 new releases impacting next week's chart, and one of four to enter in the top 10. Following the soundtrack to "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," which holds at #3 with just under 110,000 sold, Hinder's Take It to the Limit bows at #4, after selling 81,400 units. Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli's Incanto opens at #8 with 62,200 copies scanned, and country star Brad Paisley's Play debuts at #9 with 53,700 sold.

Meanwhile, Pink's Funhouse drops three spots to #5, with 72,900 scans, while John Legend's Evolver falls two positions to #6, selling another 72,000 copies. T.I.'s Paper Trail holds for a second week at #7, thanks to almost 68,800 scans. Rascal Flatts' Greatest Hits, Volume 1 rounds things out at #10, with 39,100 sold.

A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip enters the chart at #11, after selling 34,200-plus copies of his latest, Renaissance, while Sarah Brightman's Winter Symphony debuts at #38, with 13,500 sold. Shiny Toy Guns' Season of Poison follows at #47, with sales reported at 12,200, and rapper UNK's Second Season makes its debut at #104, with 5,200 copies sold. Travis' Ode to J. Smith follows at #122, with week-one sales reported at about 4,600, while Switchfoot's The Best Yet trails at #123, with 4,500 sold.

• AC/DC
• Paramore
• Perry Farrell
• Travis
• Switchfoot

Eagles' <i>Long Road Out of Eden</i>
Photo: Eagles Recording Co.

Ouch. She couldn't do it again.

Despite early projections — which, based on first-day sales figures, had beleaguered pop star Britney Spears' first studio LP in four years opening at #1 on next week's Billboard albums chart — it simply wasn't meant to be. That's thanks to an 11th-hour reversal of Billboard's policy to not include albums sold exclusively through one retailer in the top 200 (see "Britney Spears' Blackout Denied #1 Debut On Billboard Chart After Last-Minute Rule Change").

Instead, the Eagles' first studio LP in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden, will take the chart's peak position, with sales of nearly 711,000 copies, despite only being sold in Wal-Mart. That more than doubles the 290,000 scans generated by Spears' Blackout, which fell more than 40,000 short of experts' earliest sales estimates. Eden is the Eagles' first release — apart from a few compilations — to debut at #1 since the mostly live Hell Freezes Over, which also entered on top back in 1994, with 266,700 copies sold. Eden is the band's sixth release to bow at #1, and one of 2007's best debuts, joining Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride, which racked up 527,000 in its first week; Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight (with 623,000 scans); 50 Cent's Curtis (691,000); and Kanye West's Graduation (957,000).

So rather than score the fifth #1 debut of her career, Spears finds herself in a position she's never been in before: second place. Before Blackout's release, all four of Brit's previous outings debuted at #1: 1999's ... Baby One More Time (with 120,600 sold), 2000's Oops! ... I Did It Again (with 1.3 million), 2001's Britney (with 745,700) and 2003's In the Zone (609,400).

But Brit and the Eagles weren't the only newcomers to next week's chart. In fact, four other new albums will enter the top 10, and in all, 22 LPs will enter this latest chart, during what was a rather strong week for record sales, according to the latest SoundScan totals.

Following Britney at #4, with 93,800 copies snatched up during week one, is the latest eponymous offering from California rockers Avenged Sevenfold. The band's previous outing, 2005's City of Evil, opened at #30 with 33,000 sold. Coming in at #5 with 83,600 scans is Josh Turner's Everything Is Fine, and bowing at #7, thanks to sales of 81,100, is the sixth studio LP from the Backstreet Boys, Unbreakable. The band's previous offerings fared better, for the most part. While 1997's Backstreet Boys debuted at #29 with 40,000 scanned, 1999's Millennium took the #1 spot with 1.2 million sold, and 2000's Black and Blue also opened at #1, selling 1.6 million. The band's 2005 LP, Never Gone, entered at #3 with 291,000 sold.

Underwood's Carnival Ride is wedged between Brit and Avenged Sevenfold at #3, with sales of 170,100, and at #6, it's Raising Sand, a collaborative offering from Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and bluegrass revivalist Alison Krauss, selling another 81,200 units in its second week. Josh Groban's Noël drops three spots to #8, with 76,100 sold. Meanwhile, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli takes the chart's #9 position, having scanned 67,500 copies of his retrospective The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere release. Rascal Flatts' Still Feels Good rounds things out at #10, with 53,200 copies flying off store shelves.

Elsewhere on the chart, V Is for Vagina, the long-awaited debut album from Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's side project, Puscifer, debuts at #25, with sales reported at more than 26,500. Rappers Playaz Circle follow at #27, having sold 26,100 copies of their new one, Supply and Demand, while Baby Bash's Cyclone enters at #30, with 25,800 scans. R&B stalwart Will Downing's After Tonight fills the #37 slot, with 21,500 in week-one sales, and rapper Project Pat's Walkin' Bank Roll checks in at #47, with 17,200 copies grabbed up.

After months of delays, Otep's The Ascension finally makes its debut on the top 200, entering at #81 after selling more than 10,200 copies. Armor for Sleep's Smile for Them follows at #93 with 9,400 scans, while the various-artists soundtrack to the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There" opens at #95, with 9,200 copies sold. Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer takes over the #102 position, with more than 8,600 copies scanned, and Thursday's Kill the House Lights enters the chart at #113, with 7,700 in sales.

Saves the Day return to the chart at #119, with their latest, Under the Boards, selling 6,700 copies, while the Insane Clown Posse's Jugganauts: The Best of ICP takes the #124 spot with 6,300 scans. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's EP — which, like the Eagles' new release, is being sold exclusively at Wal-Mart — follows at #132 with 5,800 copies sold, while Taking Back Sunday's Notes From the Past enters at #141 with 5,600 scans. Lastly, opening at #153 with nearly 5,100 copies sold, is Graham Colton's Here Right Now.

• Eagles
• Britney Spears
• Avenged Sevenfold
• Backstreet Boys
• Carrie Underwood

Christina Aguilera
Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

Sure, Christina Aguilera got married, collaborated with old hands Herbie Hancock and Andrea Bocelli and made an album she's called "retro," but the former Xtina still has a dirty side.

In fact, she's got a track on that new record with Nas called "Still Dirrty."

"It's part two of the one she did on the last album, but the beat is totally different," said DJ Premier, who produced several of the songs. "It's more jazz-sampled with these horn blasts."

Aside from previewing a few tracks on "TRL" recently, Aguilera has yet to say much about her new record, but according to its primary producers, fans should expect music that takes an innovative approach to honoring past eras.

"DJ Premier's half is very hip-hop with old samples, and then when my half of the album kicks in, all I can say is, just have a glass of wine and enjoy the ride," said Linda Perry, another producer on the disc. "It's a very mature, very risky album [of] old-school jazzy blues. You're gonna think that these songs were recorded and written back in 1940."

"It's called Back to Basics, and that's exactly what it sounds like, the whole album," Premier added.

Nas is the only guest on the record, according to Premier, but Outkast's Big Boi is recording a verse for the remix to the first single, "Ain't No Other Man." Aguilera is shooting a video for the song this weekend.

"It's pretty much about how her husband has stolen her from looking at anybody else, 'cause he's the one who did it for her," said Premier, who produced the track with Charles Roane. "And the record's real sassy, like an old Aretha [Franklin] 'Respect' kind of attitude. It's real raw and has breakbeats in it and everything, but it's chopped up and totally tailored to what she was trying to do [by] collaborating with me."

On Wednesday, Aguilera told Premier she was sore from learning the crazy choreography for the clip.

"The song is real, real fast, which is definitely different for me, 'cause I don't do real fast tempo," Premier said. "This thing is like 130 beats per minute, but it still sounds like hip-hop/ Christina."

Aguilera worked with Perry on 2002's Stripped but turned to Premier for the first time after hearing his jazz-influenced work with Gang Starr.

"I was surprised I got that call 'cause of our differences in the audiences we hit, but I'm always up for challenges and trying something new," Premier said. "She described what her album is about and then she sent me some CDs of what type of stuff's been inspiring her to make the record, and it happened to be a lot of stuff that I grew up on in the early '70s, 'cause I'm 40. Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Marvin Gaye, Esther Williams, all kinds of different things. Once I saw that's the vibe she wanted, I still had to make it sound like the way my beats thump and stuff but still give her the atmosphere she's trying to bring out on the singing side."

Premier used live instrumentation on some tracks and sampled old jazz records on others. On one tune, he sampled voice messages from fans left through Aguilera's Web site with one of her own classics.

"I had 'Genie in a Bottle' a cappella on vinyl, and I was scratching that, trying some things, and Christina walked in and was like, 'Yo, that's hot,' so we laid that down," Premier said. "That turned into a whole song called 'Thank You,' and I think it's the last song on the album."

Premier was only slated to do one or two tracks but ended up with five on the album, plus the intro. Perry also has several tracks, and Kwame, Mark Ronson and Big Tank, who does the music for "The Boondocks" cartoon, each contribute as well.

"She played me the stuff Linda Perry did, and everything was dope, totally opposite from what my music is, but when you put it all in the right sequence, it works," Premier said. "Her album is really, really well-rounded. She totally put it together right. And she was directing the whole thing. She knew what she wanted."

Perry, who has also been working with Courtney Love (see "Linda Perry Wants To Save 'Queen Of Rock And Roll' Courtney Love"), said Aguilera's marriage has matured her for the better (see "Christina Aguilera Marries Jordan Bratman").

"She's got a lot of wonderful things to say," Perry said. "It was really easy to be a part of the record, because she was so clear with her vision of the record and the ideas that she came with. All I did was sit and listen to her ideas and came up with a way to record it."

Christina has called the album gritty and raw (see "Christina Aguilera Finishing 'Raw' LP, Waiting For Perfect Film Role"), but Perry said fans of her angelic voice need not worry.

"People thought she could sing before — well, you haven't heard anything yet," Perry said. "But it's definitely a risky record. It's not Stripped at all. ... She's completely in a different space."

Perry has one mix left but said the album is otherwise done. Aguilera's spokesperson said to expect a late summer/ early fall release.

• Christina Aguilera: "Dirrty" Girl To Married Woman

• Christina Aguilera
• Herbie Hancock
• Andrea Bocelli
• DJ Premier
• Linda Perry