Jessica Simpson's <I>A Public Affair</I>
Photo: Epic

Talk about an upset.

Next week's Billboard albums chart is about who finished fifth as much as who claims the #1 spot. A chart-topping debut has eluded Jessica Simpson once again, as sales of the singer/actress' fifth album, A Public Affair, came in at just under 101,000. Meanwhile, Bob Dylan proved that an illustrious career is often accompanied by a loyal fanbase.

SoundScan reported first-week sales for the iconic singer/songwriter's first studio LP in five years, Modern Times, at nearly 192,000 — outselling his nearest challenger by more than 74,000 copies. It's the first time in 30 years that Dylan has held the top spot — he previously reached #1 with 1974's Planet Waves, 1975's Blood on the Tracks and 1976's Desire.

Simpson, who debuts at #5 on the chart with 101,000 sales, can look on the bright side: While A Public Affair didn't surpass opening-week sales of 2001's Irresistible (which bowed at #6 with over 119,000 scans) or 2004's Rejoyce: The Christmas Album (152,000 copies sold to debut at #16), the record did chart higher than any of the singer's previous outings — In This Skin bowed at #10 in 2003, while 1999's Sweet Kisses claimed the #65 spot.

It was a debut-heavy week for the Billboard 200, with a total of 19 fresh releases making the cut and 12 of those breaking into the top 50. Five new LPs — including Dylan's and Simpson's — cracked the top 10.

Sandwiched between last week's #1 — Danity Kane's self-titled debut, which slips to #2 with more than 117,000 sales — and Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics — down one to #4 with 101,000 units sold — is T.I. protégé Young Dro, who opens at #3 with his Best Thang Smokin'. The latest release from Method Man, 4:21 ... The Day After, debuts at #8 on the chart with 62,000 sales, while the Roots' Game Theory bows at #9 with 61,000 first-week scans.

Two soundtracks and one chart veteran round out the top 10, with "The Cheetah Girls 2" moving another 80,000 units for the #6 spot, Outkast's Idlewild scoring 78,000-plus scans for #7 and Nickelback's All the Right Reasons selling 60,000 copies to sit at #10 during its 48th week on the chart.

Too Short's Blow the Whistle comes in at #14 with close to 40,000 scans. Ray LaMontagne's Till the Sun Turns Black opens at #28 with 28,000 in sales, followed at #30 by Crossfade's Falling Away, which sold just 300 fewer copies. Hatebreed's Supremacy takes the #31 spot with more than 27,000 sales, while Tego Calderón's The Underdog/ El Subestimado claims #43 with 21,000-plus copies sold. Pete Yorn's Nightcrawler finishes at #50 with 20,000 scans, and Paula DeAnda's self-titled inaugural offering claims #54 with 18,000 units snatched up.

Beenie Man's Undisputed opens at #65 with 15,000 sales, Old Crow Medicine Show's Big Iron World occupies the #125 spot with more than 7,000 scans, and Dream Theater's Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra follows at #134 with nearly 7,000 copies sold.

But the week's biggest non-debut leap goes to James Blunt's Back to Bedlam, which soars from #59 all the way to #17, probably helped by his strong showing at last week's VMAs (see "Underdog Night At The VMAs: Panic, Gnarls, Blunt, Chamillionaire Win Big").

• Jessica Simpson
• Bob Dylan
• Danity Kane
• Ray LaMontagne
• Christina Aguilera

Gnarls Barkley
Photo: Matthew Donaldson

Every summer has one — that inescapable hit song that blankets radio and TV and becomes so mainstream, so massive, that it enters the repertoires of other artists who just can't deny its hook.

Call it the "Since U Been Gone" effect.

This summer it seems Gnarls Barkley's slice of sunnily depressive soul, "Crazy," is that song, and everyone from Nelly Furtado to British buzz-band-of-the-second the Kooks couldn't resist putting their own spin on it.

U.K. soul singer Terri Walker, former Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers and singer/songwriter Ray LaMontagne have all weighed in with unique versions. And mash-up artists have also been bitten by the bug, chopping up the irresistible bass bounce and hook with everything from old-school Prince and Aussie indie rockers the Avalanches to '60s girl group the Shirelles, classic rockers Supertramp and '90s one-hit wonder Skee-Lo in a rash of bootlegs.

Covers of the song — which set a record in England earlier this year by becoming the first digital download to debut at the top of the singles chart — can be found all over the Net. Curiously, the group has tried to stop the "Crazy" train before it gets out of hand. As the record reached its ninth week at #1, the duo of producer Danger Mouse and singer Cee-Lo asked that it be deleted from the U.K.'s list before people got tired of it.

Though the pair declined through their label to comment on the props from their peers, we grabbed as many decent versions as we could and gave them a spin to provide you with a guide to the insanely good and just plain nutty.

Assuming, of course, that you're not already sick of it.

Who: Nelly Furtado
Why you know her: She's competing with Gnarls, thanks to her summer smash, "Promiscuous."
What it sounds like: Furtado performed a quiet version of the song on a BBC radio show recently, accompanied only by acoustic guitar. Breathily crooning the song in a Norah Jones style, her smoky, downtown jazz-club vibe is the most low-key of the bunch.
Verdict: Kinda nutty

Who: Twilight Singers
Why you know them: Singer Greg Dulli was known for doing offbeat Motown covers with the Afghan Whigs, and his latest project has tackled artists ranging from Mary J. Blige and Stevie Wonder to Fleetwood Mac and George Gershwin.
What it sounds like: At a May 29 show at the Paradise in Boston, Dulli mellowed things out, giving Gnarls singer Cee-Lo a run for his money in the gravelly vocals department. The singer takes the uptempo song for a late-night, drunken-crooner makeover, thanks to brushed drums, piano and some spare guitar.
Verdict: Definitely a bit deranged

Who: Ray LaMontagne
Why you know him: The folk-oriented singer/songwriter released the blue-eyed soul album Trouble in 2004, garnering comparisons to everyone from Van Morrison to Tim Buckley.
What it sounds like: Kind of like a Richie Havens tune from 1968. The husky, scratchy-voiced LaMontagne transforms the song into a Woodstock-era acoustic anthem with a healthy dollop of impassioned folk/soul and a bit of improvised scatting at the end.
Verdict: Certifiable

Who: The Kooks
Why you know them: You probably don't ... yet. The latest English buzz band of retro-rocking teens has released a string of hit singles in the U.K. and recently made its American debut at the South by Southwest music conference.
What it sounds like: Seemingly the ones who kicked off the trend with their cover from March — the same month the song was released digitally overseas — singer Nick Pritchard slathers the song in a slack, British, indie sensibility. The acoustic-guitars-and-spare-drum take is a bit hippy-dippy, but Pritchard's squeaky, nasally voice and marble-mouthed delivery give it a nice edge.
Verdict: Sorry, but kinda kooky

Who: Terri Walker
Why you know her: Yet another testament to Gnarls' effect on the British music scene, Walker is a twentysomething North London R&B sensation who has yet to make it in the U.S. but whose 2003 debut, Untitled, snagged her a nomination for England's prestigious Mercury Music Prize.
What it sounds like: The female Cee-Lo (scratchy voice and all — do you sense a pattern here?) busts out a kinda bossa-nova soul version of the track in a live recording. A bit Jill Scott, a bit Erykah Badu, the funky cover retains the original's ragged R&B edge but replaces Danger Mouse's thick sonic backdrop with a jazzy guitar.
Verdict: A bit mad, a bit sad, but definitely not bad

• Gnarls Barkley
• Nelly Furtado
• The Twilight Singers
• Ray LaMontagne
• The Kooks