50 Cent still most valued

Three new albums soared into the Top 10 of the nation’s sales chart Wednesday, but none came close to ending rapper 50 Cent’s four-week hold on the top spot.

50 Cent’s “The Massacre” sold an additional 329,000 copies last week, bringing its total to 2.6 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

That meant the 18th volume in the “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation series, which entered the chart at No. 2 last week, had to settle for second place again after selling 269,000 copies last week. Its two-week total: 609,000.

The new albums in the Top 10 this week are by Frankie J (No. 3 with sales of 130,000), Queens of the Stone Age (No. 5, sales of 97,000) and Lifehouse (No. 10, sales of 63,000). Other artists breaking into the Top 30 this week are Trace Adkins (No. 11 with 63,000), Tweet (No. 17 with 55,000) and Moby (No. 28 with 37,000).

Green Day’s “American Idiot” passed the 3-million mark this week after selling an additional 103,000 to place No. 4 on the current chart. Gwen Stefani’s solo album, which had fallen to No. 17, rebounded to No. 9 after selling 68,000 copies. The CD has sold 1.6 million since its release last November.

To make room for the new arrivals and Stefani in the Top 10, albums by these artists fell out of the ranking: Jennifer Lopez (now No. 12), rapper the Game (No. 14), Ray Charles (No. 16) and John Legend (No. 21).