Even at 58 years of age, platinum-haired rock legend Rod Stewart

can still sell himself like a high-class hooker. But his best efforts

couldn't unseat an "American Idol" runner-up.

Clay Aiken's Measure of a Man will hold tight to #1 on the

Billboard albums chart for the second week in a row with 225,000

copies sold, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (October

29). The singer's two-week run puts a little added pressure on Ruben

Studdard, the "Idol" who bested Aiken on the TV show. Studdard's debut

album, Soulful, has now been pushed back from November 11 to

December 9.

Stewart, who has been on "Oprah," "Good Morning America" and U.K.

station Radio Times this past week to plug his latest collection, As

Time Goes By ... The Great American Songbook: Volume II, will have

to settle for #2.

If it's any consolation, Stewart's burst of self-promotion --

aided by some well-placed TV ads and, perhaps, press generated by his

tongue-in-cheek swipes at other aging rockers such as Paul McCartney

and Elton John -- did its trick. As Time Goes By sold over

212,000 copies last week, while its 2002 predecessor, It Had to Be

You ... The Great American Songbook, will vault 49 spots on next

week's albums chart to #46. In addition, the 2001 compilation The

Voice: The Very Best of Rod Stewart sold just over 10,000 copies

and will nestle in at #125.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Eagles are still in it for "The Long Run."

The durable classic rockers will take the #3 position with their newest

compilation, The Very Best of the Eagles, which sold nearly

162,000 copies during its first week.

Refusing to drop from the top five are Outkast, whose double-disc set,

Speakerboxx/The Love Below, will remain at #4 with just under

146,000 copies sold in its fifth week. Taking a 36 percent sales hit is

Ludacris, whose fourth offering, Chicken & Beer, will dip three

positions to #5. In its third week in stores, the album sold more than

123,000 copies.

The highest debut for an artist under 50 goes to Loon, whose

self-titled first album will nab #6 (80,000 sold). The rest of the top

10 will include Dido's Life for Rent,, which falls one spot to

#7 (78,000 sold), and Jagged Edge's Hard, which falls five

positions to #8 (76,000 sold). Barbra Streisand's The Movie Album

will fall four to #9 (72,000 sold), and Barenaked Ladies will squeak in

at #10 with their latest, Everything to Everyone, the fourth

highest debut of the week with just over 71,000 copies sold.

Other noteworthy debuts include Mandy Moore, whose covers album,

Coverage, attracted over 53,000 consumers to take the #14 spot;

IMX crooner Marques Houston, whose MH will arrive at #18 with

41,000 sold; Something Corporate, whose third offering, North,

will grab #24 with over 41,000 sold; and strummy alternative band the

Shins, whose second album, Chutes Too Narrow, will land at #86

with sales of more than 15,000.

New York indie groove band the Rapture will debut at #121 with

Echoes; Dead Prez will Get Free or Die Trying at #144;

and Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros' swan song, Streetcore, will

hit the chart at #160.