Pop Idol Fends Off Rock Vets On Billboard 200

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Despite suffering a 64% decline in U.S. sales, Clay Aiken's "Measure of a Man" outsold new releases from Rod Stewart and the Eagles to lead The Billboard 200 for a second straight week. Aiken's RCA debut sold 225,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, bringing his two-week total to 838,000.

The second-season "American Idol" runner-up sold slightly more than over Rod Stewart's "As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook Part II" (J Records). The collection of standards, which features a duet with Cher on "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered," moved 212,000 copies in its first week.

The album is a sequel to last year's "It Had To Be You: The Great American Songbook," which entered the chart No. 4 with 115,000 copies and has sold 1.8 million to date. "It Had To Be You" benefits from the release of the new album, bolting 95-46 this week on a 73% sales burst to 23,000 copies.

The two-disc retrospective "Eagles -- The Very Best Of," lands at No. 3. The veteran California rock act's 33-track Warner Strategic Marketing collection -- the Eagles' first two-disc collection -- sold 162,000 copies. The group's "Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)" is considered one of the top-selling albums of all time, having been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. shipments of 28 million.

Sales of OutKast's two-CD set "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" (Arista) were down just 13% to 146,000 copies and the steady seller maintains its No. 4 post. Sales of the set have surpassed 1.1 million in just five weeks of release.

"Chicken & Beer" from Ludacris drifts 2-5 in its third week on the chart. The Disturbing Tha Peace/Def Jam set suffered a 36% sales dip to 123,000 copies, bringing its total to 746,000 copies.

The self-titled Bad Boy/Universal debut from hip-hop artist Loon lands at No. 6 on sales of 80,000 copies. The P. Diddy protégé has appeared on cuts from the hip-hop superstar, as well as Toni Braxton, Dream and Foxy Brown. His single "Down for Me" featuring Mario Winans is up 25-19 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks tally.

Dido's "Life for Rent" falls one spot to No. 7 in its fourth week on the chart. Sales of the Arista set were down 24% to 78,000 copies. Jagged Edge's "Hard" drops 3-8 in its second week on the chart, as sales of the Sony album declined 58% to 76,000 copies.

Barbra Streisand's "The Movie Album" (Columbia) slips 5-9 in its second week. Sales fell 56% to 72,000 units, giving the singer a two-week total of 234,000.

Canadian act Barenaked Ladies bows at No. 10 with "Everything to Everyone" (Reprise). The album debuts with 72,000 copies, a sharp decline from 2000's "Maroon," which arrived at No. 5 on sales of 128,000 copies. The latter has sold 1.1 million units to date.

Mandy Moore's "Coverage" (Epic) sold 53,000 copies to arrive at No. 14, making this her highest-charting release. Moore, however, has had better sales weeks, as her 2000 album "I Wanna Be With You" bowed at No. 21 with 60,000 units, and her 1999 debut "So Real" sold 55,000 during that year's holiday season.

Also landing in the top-20 is the first solo effort from Marques Houston, "MH" (Interscope). The former member of teen R&B trio Immature has a hit with current single "Clubbin" featuring Joe Budden and Pied Piper, which last week reached the top-40 of Billboard's Hot 100.

Other notable entries this week include Something Corporate's "North" (Geffen) at No. 24 on sales of 41,000 copies, Van Morrison's "What's Wrong With This Picture?" (Blue Note) at No. 32 with 33,500 copies, Rush's "Rush in Rio" (Anthem/Atlantic) at No. 33 with 33,000 copies and Mark Wills' "And the Crowd Goes Wild" (Universal) at No. 68 with 18,000 copies.