T.I.
Photo: Jason Campbell

It looks like there just weren't enough fresh albums to inspire many trips to the record store last week.

Not a single new release will crack the top 40 on the next Billboard albums chart. Nine newcomers debut within the chart's top 200, but the rundown of the nation's biggest sellers remains largely unchanged from the previous list, with country trio Rascal Flatts spending a third straight week at #1 thanks to sales of their Me & My Gang coming in at just over 143,000.

According to the latest SoundScan totals, the Dresden Dolls put up the week's highest opening performance. The band's sophomore disc, Yes, Virginia ..., bows at #42 with 19,000 scans. Wolves in Wolves' Clothing, the latest offering from veteran punks NOFX, debuts at #46 with sales nearing 18,000. The Drive-By Truckers' new one, A Blessing and a Curse, comes in at #50 after selling close to 17,000 copies.

Southern hip-hop duo Da Backwudz's Wood Work opens at #94 with over 9,000 sales, and rapper Pastor Troy's Stay Tru debuts at #150 with 6,000 scans. Singer/songwriter Mat Kearney's Nothing Left to Lose makes its mark in the #161 spot, after selling close to 6,000 copies, while gospel singer Anthony Burger's Best of Anthony Burger comes in at #188 with sales of 5,000 and change. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs' collaborative Under the Covers, Vol. 1 pops up at #192 with close to 5,000 copies sold. Blood in Blood Out, by rappers Amb, just makes the cut, selling just shy of 5,000 to claim #199.

In all, the top 200 releases racked up close to 3.1 million in total sales — a drop of nearly 2 million from the previous week. Only a handful of albums scored sales increases — Rod Stewart's 2005 release, Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Vol. IV, is among them, returning to the chart at #58 thanks to a 253 percent sales boost and close to 15,000 copies sold. The legendary singer's appearance last week on "American Idol" also helped sales of his 2004 album, Stardust ... The Great American Songbook, Vol. III, which reappears following a long Billboard lull. That album occupies the #113 spot, selling more than 8,000 copies — a 226 percent increase in retail movement.

Sales of Fort Minor's The Rising Tide jumped up by 45 percent, ending the week with nearly 9,000 scans, which sent the disc soaring 89 chart positions to #104. The band recently released its latest single, "Where'd You Go," to rock radio and video outlets.

All of the albums that make up the top 10 suffered a sales slip from the previous week. While the Flatts LP holds the #1 slot, retail interest waned 58 percent during its third week in stores. The 21st installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation series — featuring hit singles from Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Clarkson and Fall Out Boy — climbs one spot to #2 despite a 56 percent sales lag, racking up 130,000 scans. The soundtrack to the Disney Channel original movie "High School Musical" moves from #4 to #3, with 116,000 copies sold, while Toby Keith's White Trash With Money follows at #4 with week-two sales of 109,000.

T.I.'s King hangs tough at #5 with 86,000 copies sold, just in front of Tim McGraw's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2: Reflected, which netted another 59,000 scans. James Blunt's Back to Bedlam follows at #7, with sales nearing 54,000, while Shakira's Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 claims the #8 spot after moving 52,000 copies. Canadian songwriter Daniel Powter's self-titled debut holds at #9, selling 47,000 discs its second week in stores. Pink rounds out the top 10 with 42,000 copies of I'm Not Dead sold.

• T.I.
• P!nk
• Shakira
• Rascal Flatts
• The Dresden Dolls

Beyonce, Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes
Photo: Sony, Jive and Scott Gries/Getty Images

It is the subject matter behind nearly half of the current top 20 songs in the country, yet it is going mostly unnoticed. In fact, you've already missed it twice since you started reading this article.

So what is it? It is it. And there's no denying it is red-hot in music right now. It is all over the charts:

Beyonce's "Check on It," Chris Brown's "Run It!," the Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It," Dem Franchize Boys' "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It," Busta Rhymes' "Touch It," Da Back Wudz's "I Don't Like the Look of It," Juelz Santana's "There It Go (The Whistle Song)," the Purple Ribbon All-Stars' "Kryptonite (I'm on It)" ... and it goes on.

It is actually nothing new to music, nor is telling listeners what to do with it.

The Rolling Stones, alone, have addressed it several times — "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)," "It Must Be Hell" and "It's Not Easy" — all the while asking us to "Paint It Black," "Let It Bleed" and "Let It Loose."

Hundreds of artists, from the Doors to the Spice Girls to Van Morrison, have demanded that listeners simply "Do It." And who can forget what Devo told us to do to it?

It has clearly got history, but why is it suddenly so ubiquitous?

Dean Jutilla, a spokesperson for eBay, who have plastered it across television screens and billboards in recent months as the center of their latest advertising campaign, has a theory about it.

"I think because it is such a personal thing, and only you can identify with your own it, is probably why so many artists are talking about it," Jutilla said. "It means so many things to so many people"

And Jutilla has a point. In an attempt to find out exactly what it is, MTV News asked a variety of it experts and got, well, a variety of answers.

"It's basically something really unique about you and having some star potential," said "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, who is always talking about singers having it or not having it. "It's the thing that Elvis had, the thing that Michael Jackson had, the thing that so many greats have. When you walk into the room and you leave, everyone remembers you or people are saying, 'God, I like that person,' or 'I want to be like that person,' or 'I want to dress like them,' or 'I want to sing like them,' just having some kind of inspirational, motivational factor about you."

Of course Jackson is more of a pop and rock guy, and it seems to be more prevalent in hip-hop and R&B, so we went to expert rap author Kris Ex, who most recently penned 50 Cent's biography.

"If you gotta ask, you ain't got it, ain't getting' it and can't touch it, much less pump it or check on it," Ex declared. "It is what it is and that's all that it is. That's all there is to it, really. Well, there may be more, but I'm not at liberty to talk about it. It's like a secret society — or something."

Yesi Ortiz, a DJ at Los Angeles hip-hop station Power 106, certainly doesn't need to ask.

"Come on, everyone knows that it is the secret code word for Jennifer Lopez's [most famous asset]," she said.

J. Lo aside, Ortiz probably has the most accurate definition of it as it is used in many of today's popular songs, but you never know. And that is basically the whole point of it.

"It is such a personal thing for people," Jutilla reiterated. "And they're very, very protective of their it. No matter what it is to them. They'll even be feisty protecting their it. They are very fascinated and intrigued by it. They'll spend a lot of money on it, whatever that is. I think people find their it empowers them. It brings people together."

Last year, actor Crispin Glover dared to direct a movie called "What Is It?," but when we reached out to him to ask what it is, he simply replied, "The question is not 'What it is,' but what is it?"

So where does that leave us? Perhaps we're best left turning to former Faith No More singer Mike Patton, who asked and then answered "What is it?" it in that band's biggest hit, "Epic": "It's it."

Or maybe we should listen to the Beatles and simply "Let It Be."

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