Like other weeks since Thanksgiving, last week's sales picture had both good news and bad news. The good news was a 34% increase in album sales over the previous week. The bad news was that last week was, as usual, 6% lower than the same week in 2005. A consolation can be found in last week's 23% increase in digital track sales, a mark that was 52% higher than the same week last year.

Nas barely beat out a fictional teenager last week. Hip Hop Is Dead (Def Jam) debuted at #1 with sales of 354,000 (5% digital). The Hannah Montana soundtrack (Disney) rose one spot to #2 and sold 349,000. In nine weeks, the soundtrack has sold 1.9 million units.

The only other debut in the Top 20 was Bow Wow's Price of Fame (Columbia), which sold 261,000 (less than 1% digital) and entered the chart at #6.

Last week's top two titles fell while nearly every other abum in the Top 40 got a healthy holiday bump. Last week's #1, Young Jeezy's Inspiration (Def Jam) dropped 48% and fell to #18. Taylor Hicks' self-titled debut (Arista) fared better, dropping 32% and falling to #15 from #2. Fantasia's self-titled album (J Records) isn't connecting with fans. In its second week of release, it fell to #63 from #19 on a 54% decrease.

Justin Timberlake's Futuresex/Love Sounds (Jive) jumped 98% and rose to #9. The Dreamgirls soundtrack had a big week as well, rising ten spots to #31 on a 97% jump in sales. Akon's Konvicted (SRC/Universal Motown)) is the hip hop album of the fourth quarter, rising to #10 on a 60% sales jump. Konvicted passed the one million mark (3% digital) in its sixth week in stores. Jay-Z's Kingdom Come has sold 100,000 more units in five weeks but will fall behind Konvicted in the next week or two.

The Beggars Group & Matador Records is seeking a Paralegal