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LL Cool J Beaten To The Top By Faith Hill

Country singer's fifth album will make its chart debut at #1 with more than 472,000 copies sold.

Faith Hill will likely be shedding tears of joy over Cry when next week's Billboard albums chart is published.

The country singer's fifth album and first in three years, Cry will make its chart debut at #1 with more than 472,000 copies sold, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (October 23).

LL Cool J will flex his musical muscles at #2 with 10. With a chiseled new physique and a ladies-loving single, "Luv U Better," the 17-year veteran of verse sold more than 154,000 copies of his follow-up to 2000's The G.O.A.T. in its first week in stores.

The two newcomers will oust the Elvis Presley set Elvis 30 #1 Hits from the top slot where the King once reigned for four consecutive weeks. The more-than-a-million seller will drop a deuce to #3. Bon Jovi, meanwhile, got more than a gentle nudge from Hill and LL. The Garden State group's latest, Bounce, will plummet 11 spots to #13 after selling more than 61,000 copies, less than half as many as it did the week before.

Romance rules the back end of the top 10, with soulster Gerald Levert's The G Spot and R&B crooner Dave Hollister's Things in the Game Done Changed setting a smooth mood at #9 and #10, respectively.

Rounding out next week's top 10 are the Rolling Stones' Forty Licks, which will step back to #4; Avril Lavigne extending her 20-week stay in the upper echelon with Let Go's #5 placement; the Dixie Chicks cracking the 2 million mark with former top dog Home remaining at #6; The Eminem Show, the only LP to rival Lavigne's top-10 residency, at #7; and Nelly's Nellyville, dropping three places to #8.

A gracious greeting is allotted to nümetallers Taproot, whose second album, Welcome, will make a surprising chart debut at #17, thanks to the radio and video prominence of "Poem," while the band makes the rounds on the road.

Other notable debuts on next week's chart include the double CD The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac at #12; singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman's Let It Rain at #25; Shine by orchestral dance-pop quartet Bond at #61; Dirty South rappers Da Headbussaz's Dat's How It Happened To 'M at #98; The Best of INXS at #144; and the soundtrack to the movie "Jackass," opening this week, at #195.

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