Adam Lambert performs "Feeling Good" on "American Idol" on Tuesday
Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images/ Fox

The bright white suit, the hot-pink staircase: Adam Lambert's entrance on Tuesday night's "American Idol" was one part Rat Pack homage, one part theatrical glam-rock extravaganza. What else might we expect from the front-runner with the eyeliner and the virtuosic voice on a night that paid tribute to the group of '60s crooners led by Frank Sinatra?

The song Adam chose was "Feeling Good," originally penned by the team of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical "The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd," which debuted in Britain in 1964 to little public acclaim. However, Tony Bennett picked up another of the musical's songs, "Who Can I Turn To?" and turned the track into a hit recording while "Greasepaint" was touring the United States. The musical eventually landed on Broadway in 1965.

The song's connection to the Rat Pack was a 1966 cover by Sammy Davis Jr., but it has been covered by countless artists — almost no two alike. Two versions appeared on platinum-certified albums in 2005: one by jazz singer Michael Bublé (It's Time) and one by the Pussycat Dolls (PCD). Perhaps the most well-known adaptation belongs to soul goddess Nina Simone on her album I Put a Spell on You.

But the arrangement Lambert selected comes by way of the British alt-rock group Muse, whose organ-driven take on "Feeling Good" appeared on their 2001 album Origin of Symmetry. The band, which Lambert didn't credit by name on Tuesday, actually once sued Nestlé for an unauthorized use of "Feeling Good" in a TV ad for instant coffee.

The lyrics couldn't have been more apt for Lambert, who finds himself on the precipice of an "Idol" victory after another routine that wowed the judges. "It's a new dawn/ It's a new day/ It's a new life for me," he sang with a more serious look in his eye than in performances past. "And I'm feeling good."

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• Muse
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• Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé
Photo: 143/Reprise

Last week, Michael Bublé came so close to scoring the first Billboard albums chart #1 debut of his career, he could taste it. But then R&B hunk Ne-Yo burst Bublé's bubble, scoring the top spot and leaving the Canadian crooner holding Billboard's silver medal.

But this week, it was Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's turn to feel the sting. Early sales projections had the group's comeback LP, Strength & Loyalty, pegged for a #1 opening. But in the end — possibly due to a last-minute Mother's Day sales push — the Bone couldn't touch the Bublé.

While sales of Bublé's latest, Call Me Irresponsible, dipped 32 percent last week, the LP still outsold Bone Thugs' new one by about 25,000 copies, earning the singer with the hard-to-pronounce name a belated Billboard conquest, according to the latest SoundScan figures. Bublé's album sold nearly 145,000 units to Bone Thugs' 119,000. The group has bowed at the top twice before, with 1995's E 1999 Eternal, which sold 307,000 copies, and 1997's The Art of War, which scanned to the tune of 394,000.

Meanwhile, R&B heartthrob Bobby Valentino's sophomore set, Special Occasion, opens at #3 on next week's chart, having sold 91,700 copies during its first week at retail; Bobby's no stranger to a #3 debut, as his self-titled 2005 LP also opened in third, but with much stronger sales of 180,000. Valentino's was one of four new releases to make it into this latest top 10, and one of 15 new releases in all to impact the chart. Debuting at #7 is legend Barbra Streisand's Live in Concert 2006, with close to 60,000 scans, and coming in at #9 is Icelandic songstress Björk's Volta, which netted week-one sales of 43,000.

Surprisingly, Volta earns the distinction of being the first Björk album to debut in the top 10. Her two previous efforts, 2001's Vespertine and 2004's Medúlla, opened at #19 and #14, respectively, with stronger sales of 75,000 and 65,000. Ne-Yo's Because of You slides three spots to #4 with 89,000 scans, while Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing follows at #5 on 70,800 units.

The self-titled debut from "American Idol" season five finalist Chris Daughtry's eponymous rock outfit, Daughtry, inches up one spot to #6, with 66,800 copies sold, while Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts climbs two spots to #8 with 56,800 scans. The 24th installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation series rounds out the top 10, having sold an additional 40,700 copies, adding to its already 743,000 take.

New Moon, a two-CD/ two-LP posthumous compilation album from the late Elliott Smith, opens at #24 on Billboard's chart, with sales reported at 24,400; the singer died in unclear circumstances in 2003. DipSet: More Than Music Vol. 2, a collection featuring Diplomats members Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, Hell Rell, J.R. Writer, 40 Cal. and others, follows at #26, with 23,000 scans. Meanwhile, Travis return to the top 200 at #58, with The Boy With No Name, which generated sales of 11,700, and coming in at #97 is the latest from rapper Sage Francis, Human the Death Dance, which sold 8,500 units.

Bone Brothers 2, a collaboration between Layzie Bone and former Bone Thugs partner Bizzy Bone, bows at #122 with 6,900 copies sold, while Punk Goes Acoustic 2, a collection of unplugged tracks from the likes of Jack's Mannequin, Silverstein, the All-American Rejects, Relient K, and Sherwood, opens at #125, with 6,800 scans. The debut offering from "American Idol" season five finalist Paris Bennett, Princess P, debuts at #133 with more than 6,300 copies sold, and coming in at #197, with 4,300 copies sold, is Houston rapper Z-Ro's new one, Power.

• Michael Bublé
• Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
• Bobby Valentino
• Björk
• Daughtry

Ne-Yo
Photo: Def Jam

One's a charismatic American R&B singer and fledgling thespian with a beaming smile that makes thousands of teen girls' hearts flutter like the wings of a butterfly caught in a hurricane. The other's a Canadian big-band crooner with a funny-sounding last name and a legion of soccer-mom fans at his behest. But there wasn't enough room for both artists at the top of next week's Billboard albums chart, so one of them would have to settle for second place.

For Ne-Yo, a #1 opening would give him a perfect record: two for two. For Michael Bublé, it would end a years-long flirtation with the chart's coveted peak position. And with a mere 39,000 in sales separating them, it was a close contest, to be sure — just not close enough for Bublé. Repeating the success of his 2006 debut, In My Own Words, which sold more than 301,000 copies during its first week of release to bow at the chart's #1 spot, Ne-Yo once again lays claim to Billboard's apex, having scanned more than 251,000 copies of his sophomore set, Because of You.

According to the latest SoundScan totals, Ne-Yo ends pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne's two-week run at #1, leaving Bublé's Call Me Irresponsible in the proverbial dust. Bublé's 2005 LP, It's Time, debuted at #7, with close to 93,500 units snatched up; his latest outing racked up sales of more than 212,000 to finish at #2.

Next week's chart is chock-full of new releases — 18 in all, with six of those offerings cracking the top 10. Coming in at a distant third, with nearly 93,000 in week-one sales, is the latest disc from Rush, Snakes & Arrows, followed at #4 by Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing, which sold 86,300 copies during its third week in stores. Tori Amos' new one, American Doll Posse, opens at #5 with 54,000 scans, just in front of Miranda Lambert's latest, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which sold just 1,000 fewer copies. Amos' 2005 LP, The Beekeeper, also debuted at #5 but with much stronger sales of 82,600.

Falling two chart positions to #7 this week is the self-titled debut set from "American Idol" season-five finalist Chris Daughtry's rock group, Daughtry, which sold 50,000-plus copies, pushing overall sales of the disc past the 2.4 million mark. Country artist Blake Shelton's Pure BS is the last of the newcomers to breach the chart's top 10, finishing at #8 with 48,500 scans, while the 24th installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation series drops five spots to #9, selling 46,400 copies. Rounding out the top 10 is Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts, which generated sales of 43,900.

The Reminder, the third full-length solo outing from Broken Social Scene associate Feist, opens at #16, having sold a reported 31,000 copies. The live version of the soundtrack to the Disney Channel original movie "High School Musical," last year's unexpected blockbuster hit, opens at #28; High School Musical: The Concert sold more than 21,800 copies its first week out. Meanwhile, the soundtrack to "Spider-Man 3," featuring contributions from Snow Patrol, the Killers, the Flaming Lips and others, pops up at #33 with 20,800 scans, followed at #36 by "High School Musical" star Corbin Bleu's debut, Another Side, which scanned 17,900 units.

Garage rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's newest, Baby 81, finishes within the chart's top 50 at #46, having sold 14,500 copies during its first week of sales. Angélique Kidjo's latest, Djin Djin, surfaces at #61, with 11,000 copies sold, while formerly extinct alt-rockers Dinosaur Jr.'s first new studio album in more than a decade, Beyond, claims the chart's #69 slot with 10,000-plus scans. The Fall of Troy's Manipulator debuts at #76, with 9,500 units sold, while American heartland singer/songwriter Jon McLaughlin's Indiana finishes at #81 with sales of 8,800.

Elvis Costello returns to Billboard's top 200 at #110, with his retrospective, The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years, selling 7,200 units. Christian rockers Building 429's Iris to Iris claims the #140 slot with 5,500 copies sold. "American Idol" season-three finalist Kimberley Locke's sophomore LP, Based on a True Story, opens at #160 with 4,800 in sales. In related news, Bon Jovi's appearance last week on the current season of "Idol" paid off big, as the band's 2005 release, Have a Nice Day, returns to the chart after more than seven months off, thanks to a 333 percent sales boost that landed the LP at #113, with 7,000 units scanned.

• Ne-Yo
• Avril Lavigne
• Michael Bublé
• Rush
• Tori Amos

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