Standards issue is top of the chart

Erstwhile bad-boy rocker Rod Stewart has scored his first No. 1 debut on the nation’s pop album chart of his four-decade recording career with “Stardust ... The Great American Songbook Vol. 3,” the series in which he has redefined himself as a crooner of romantic tunes largely of the pre-rock era.

“Stardust” sold 240,000 copies its first week in stores, easily outdistancing the No. 2 finisher, Nelly’s “Suit,” which logged 153,000 more copies last week, Nielsen SoundScan reported.

Last week’s top-selling album, George Strait’s “50 Number Ones,” slipped to No. 3 as sales dropped 25% to 142,000.

“Stardust” also logged Stewart’s highest first-week sales figure of the SoundScan era, topping last year’s second “Songbook” edition by 28,000 copies and more than doubling the debut-week figure of 115,000 for the first volume. The first two collections have sold a combined 4.7 million copies.

Two other albums debuted in the Top 10: Jimmy Eat World’s “Futures,” at No. 6 with sales of 99,000 copies, and Brooks & Dunn’s “Greatest Hits, Vol. II” (No. 7, 87,000). The posthumous album from singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, “From a Basement on the Hill,” entered the chart at No. 19 with sales of 43,000.

Ray Charles’ final album, “Genius Loves Company,” got a sales boost and returned to the Top 10 with help from publicity surrounding the release of the film “Ray.” “Genius” jumped from No. 13 last week to No. 5 after logging a sales increase of more than 60% from the previous week, to 99,000 copies. Its sales total is now 852,000.