Nelly, Eminem Return to Lead Positions

After topping the nation’s album sales charts for two weeks, Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” falls to No. 3 this week behind two hip-hop collections that earlier held the No. 1 spot and are continuing to build massive sales totals, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released Wednesday.

Springsteen’s series of reflections on the emotional toll of Sept. 11 sold 167,000 copies last week to bring its three-week total to an impressive 931,000 copies.

Nelly’s “Nellyville,” which was No. 1 for three weeks earlier this summer, returns there after selling 183,000 copies last week, nipping Eminem’s “The Eminem Show,” which sold 179,000 copies.

The Nelly album has now sold 2.7 million in two months, while Eminem’s album, which was No. 1 for five weeks earlier in the year, has sold 5 million copies in a little more than three months.

James Taylor’s “October Road” is the highest-ranking newcomer on the chart this week, finishing No. 4 with sales of 154,000 copies.

In reviewing the album for The Times, writer Randy Lewis suggested that “October Road” would have been a “respectable if not especially scintillating addition to the veteran singer-songwriter’s folk-rock canon” if it had been released a year ago.

“Coming in this post-Sept. 11 age of global uncertainty, his music offers a particularly reassuring emotional salve, much as it did three decades back when he arrived at the height of the Vietnam War,” Lewis noted

The remaining positions in the Top 10 are held, in order, by Avril Lavigne, volume 10 of “Now That’s What I Call Music,” Toby Keith, Linkin Park, the “XXX” soundtrack and Scarface.

Three other releases entered the chart in the Top 20. They are Nickel Creek’s “This Side” at No. 18, Snoop Dogg’s “Snoop Dog Presents ... “ at No. 19 and Slum Village’s “Trinity (Past, Present & Future)” at No. 20.

The nation’s best-selling single remains the Dixie Chicks’ “Long Time Gone.” The country trio’s third album, “Home,” will be released Tuesday and is given a strong chance by retailers to enter the chart at No. 1.

Like the hit single, the album finds the Chicks sticking to their traditional country roots rather than playing the pop crossover game that has taken the heart out of so much recent country music.