Teen country star Taylor Swift led the U.S. pop album chart for a fourth week on Wednesday, while Beyonce rebounded three places to No. 2 with her former chart-topper.
Swift's second album, "Fearless," sold 262,000 copies during the week ended December 28. In its five weeks of release, it has sold 2.11 million copies, making it the third-biggest seller of the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Beyonce's "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" sold 211,000 copies last week. Britney Spears' "Circus" was up one to No. 3 with 203,000. Nickelback's "Dark Horse" rose two to No. 4 with 177,000 copies. Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreak" jumped six to No. 5 with 165,000 units.
The soundtrack to "Twilight" was up one to No. 6 with 148,000 copies. After a No. 2 debut last week, Keyshia Cole's "A Different Me" slid to No. 7 with 127,000. Jamie Foxx's "Intuition," also in its second week, plunged to No. 9 with 105,000.
The 29th volume of the multiartist "Now!" hits compilation rose two to No. 8 with 122,000. "American Idol" champ David Cook's self-titled major-label debut rose three to No. 10 with 101,000.
In this last chart week of 2008, sales totaled 17.02 million, up 17% compared with the final week of 2007. However, the week ending December 28, 2008 included three full days of pre-Christmas shopping. The final week of 2007 ended December 30, and only contained one day of last minute holiday shopping.
There were 428.4 million albums sold this year, down 14.4% compared with 2007's 500.5 million. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was the top seller of the year with 2.87 million copies, followed by Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" with 2.14 million.
Taylor Swift tops album chart for 4th week