Dave Matthews ends Nelly's chart reign

Here’s another sign that free downloads may not be hurting record sales as much as the industry says. Last year, when Dave Matthews Band scrapped an album’s worth of tunes and instead released another collection of new songs called ”Everyday,” the unreleased ”Lillywhite Sessions” became a popular bootleg. Nonetheless, when the shelved tunes surfaced in stores last week on the authorized DMB release ”Busted Stuff,” fans sent the album straight to No. 1 on the Billboard chart, buying 621,725 copies (according to SoundScan) and displacing Nelly’s ”Nellyville” from the top slot it’s held for three weeks.

”Nellyville” sold a still-strong 305,000 discs at No. 2. Eminem’s ”The Eminem Show,” at No. 3, moved another 210,850 units. Dropping two spots from its debut last week, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ”By The Way” sold 140,650 copies at No. 4. Sliding one space into fifth place was Avril Lavigne’s ”Let Go,” with 110,600 sold.

There were no other new releases in the top 10; ”Highly Evolved,” from the much-touted Australian post-punk band The Vines, debuted at No. 11. The compilation ”Irv Gotti Presents … The Inc.” (No. 6) and Styles’ ”A Gangster and a Gentleman” (No. 7) switched places from last week. Ashanti climbed one space to No. 8 with ”Ashanti.” Counting Crows’ ”Hard Candy” fell four places to No. 9, and Josh Groban’s self-titled CD fell two places to No. 10.