Method Man (file)
Photo: Anthony Cutajar

Maybe we should wake you when Usher no longer has the top album in the country.

The more than 213,000 copies of Confessions sold last week will keep the R&B megastar in the #1 position on the next Billboard 200 albums chart, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (May 26). Bolstered by the hit singles "Yeah!" and "Burn," the album has spent eight of its nine weeks on shelves in the top slot, with total sales in excess of 3.5 million copies.

Although it is the best-selling album of 2004 so far, Confessions trails behind past albums that have enjoyed the same number of weeks at #1, albeit consecutive. Creed's Weathered (2001), Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and 'NSYNC's No Strings Attached (2000) sold 3.8 million, 4.9 million, and 5.4 million copies, respectively, during their eight weeks on top.

Method Man's Tical 0: The Prequel, meanwhile, places in the same position the last installment of the Tical trilogy did: #2. Its first-week draw of more than 164,000 copies, however, is significantly less than the 410,000 copies 1998's Tical 2000: Judgement Day moved in its opening week.

New Found Glory show improvement in both chart position and sales with their fourth album, Catalyst. While its predecessor, Sticks and Stones, bowed at #4 in 2002 with more than 91,000 copies sold, Catalyst enters the chart one notch higher, having sold more than 146,000 copies.

So-Called Chaos, Alanis Morissette's fourth studio album, comes in at #5 with more than 114,000 copies sold, while country singer Montgomery Gentry's You Do Your Thing caps off the top-10 debuts at #10, with more than 57,000 in first-week sales.

Last week's #2 album, country singer Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party, drops two to #4 (more than 138,000 copies sold); D12's D12 World and Hoobastank's The Reason make identical shifts downward two spots to #6 (86,000) and #7 (78,000), respectively; 8Ball & MJG's Living Legends drops five spots to #8 (64,000); and Now That's What I Call Music! 15 takes a step back to #9 (58,000).

Morrissey hangs his hat at #11 with You Are the Quarry, missing the top 10 by a mere 1,500 copies. The follow-up to 1997's Maladjusted sold more than 56,000 copies amid a flurry of flattering press and weeklong residencies in New York and Los Angeles.

Coinciding with the #1 movie at the box office, the soundtrack to "Shrek 2," featuring the Counting Crows' "Accidentally in Love," jumps 24 spots to #12 in its second week in stores.

With the risqué video for "Where Are We Runnin'?" in tow, Lenny Kravitz's seventh album, Baptism, comes in at #14, two spots below where his previous album, Lenny, debuted two years ago.

Other notable additions to the chart include George Michael's Patience at #29; the soundtrack to "That's So Raven," featuring tracks by Lindsay Lohan, Stacie Orrico and Raven herself, at #46; U.K. rapper the Streets' A Grand Don't Come for Free at #82; Cryptic Collection 3 by Insane Clown Posse protégés Twiztid at #85; the rap trio Juvenile, Wacko and Skip's Beginning of the End at #122; RJD2's Since We Last Spoke at #128; Fall Out Boy's My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue at #153; Guster's Guster on Ice: Live From Portland Maine at #180; and Gomez's Split the Difference at #191.

• Usher
• Method Man
• New Found Glory
• Alanis Morissette
• Montgomery Gentry

Entertainer of the Year
Brooks & Dunn
Kenny Chesney
Alan Jackson
Toby Keith
Tim McGraw

Male Vocalist of the Year
Kenny Chesney
Alan Jackson
Toby Keith
Tim McGraw
Brad Paisley
George Strait

Female Vocalist of the Year
Terri Clark
Alison Krauss
Patty Loveless
Martina McBride
Dolly Parton

Vocal Group of the Year
Alabama
Diamond Rio
Dixie Chicks
Lonestar
Rascal Flatts

Vocal Duo of the Year
Bellamy Brothers
Brooks & Dunn
Montgomery Gentry
Sons of the Desert
The Warren Brothers

Horizon Award
Gary Allan
Buddy Jewell
Joe Nichols
Blake Shelton
Darryl Worley

Vocal Event of the Year (Awards presented to artists and producer(s))

• "Beer for My Horses"
Artists: Toby Keith duet with Willie Nelson
Record Label: DreamWorks

• "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"
Artists: Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett
Record Label: Arista Nashville

• "Picture"
Artists: Kid Rock featuring Sheryl Crow
Record Label: Lava/Atlantic

• "Tears in the Holston River"
Artists: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band featuring Johnny Cash
Record Label: Capitol Nashville

• "The Truth About Men"
Artists: Tracy Byrd (with Andy Griggs, Montgomery Gentry and Blake Shelton)
Record Label: RCA

Album of the Year (Awards presented to artist(s) and producer(s))

• American IV: The Man Comes Around -- Johnny Cash
Producer: Rick Rubin
Record Label: Lost Highway

• Home -- Dixie Chicks
Producers: Dixie Chicks and Lloyd Maines
Record Label: Open Wide/Monument/Columbia

• Man With a Memory -- Joe Nichols
Producer: Brent Rowan
Record Label: Universal South

• Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors -- Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors
Producers: Byron Gallimore, Tim McGraw and Darran Smith
Record Label: Curb

• Unleashed -- Toby Keith
Producers: James Stroud and Toby Keith
Record Label: DreamWorks

Song of the Year (Awards presented to the songwriter(s) and publisher(s))

• "Beer for My Horses" -- Toby Keith duet with Willie Nelson
Writers: Toby Keith and Scotty Emerick
Publishers: Tokeco Tunes and Big Yellow Dog Music

• "Celebrity" -- Brad Paisley
Writer: Brad Paisley
Publishers: EMI April Music and Sea Gayle Music

• "Have You Forgotten?" -- Darryl Worley
Writers: Darryl Worley and Wynn Varble
Publishers: EMI April Music, Pittsburg Landing Songs and Warner-Tamerlane Pub.

• "Red Dirt Road" -- Brooks & Dunn
Writers: Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn
Publishers: Sony and ATV

• "Three Wooden Crosses" -- Randy Travis
Writers: Doug Johnson and Kim Williams
Publishers: Mike Curb Music, Sweet Radical Music, Sony and ATV Tunes

Single of the Year (Awards presented to artist(s)and producer(s))

• Beer for My Horses" -- Toby Keith duet with Willie Nelson
Producers: James Stroud andToby Keith
Record Label: DreamWorks

• "Celebrity" -- Brad Paisley
Producer: Frank Rogers
Record Label: Arista Nashville

• "Have You Forgotten?" -- Darryl Worley
Producers: Frank Rogers and James Stroud
Record Label: DreamWorks

• "Hurt" -- Johnny Cash
Producer: Rick Rubin
Record Label: Lost Highway

• "Three Wooden Crosses" -- Randy Travis
Producer: Kyle Lehning
Record Labels: Word, Curb and Warner Bros.

Music Video of the Year (Awards presented to artist(s) and director)

• "Beer for My Horses"
Artists: Toby Keith duet with Willie Nelson
Director: Michael Salomon

• "Celebrity"
Artist: Brad Paisley
Director: Peter Zavadil

• "Concrete Angel"
Artist: Martina McBride
Directors: Robert Deaton and George J. Flanigen IV

• "Hurt"
Artist: Johnny Cash
Director: Mark Romanek

• "Red Dirt Road"
Artist: Brooks & Dunn
Director: Steven Goldmann

Musician of the Year
Jerry Douglas -- Dobro
Paul Franklin -- steel guitar
Aubrie Haynie -- fiddle/mandolin
Brent Mason -- guitar
Randy Scruggs -- guitar

• Brooks & Dunn
• Kenny Chesney
• Alan Jackson
• Toby Keith
• Tim McGraw