MADE IN THE SADE

The “Smooth Operator” takes a second week in the top spot, as Soldier of Love holds down the fort on the HITS Album Sales chart, adding another 191k to its two-week total, which is now nearing 700k.

That was enough to beat back the year’s first million-seller in Capitol Nashville/EMI country act Lady Antebellum, whose Need You Now racks up another 144k in sales, good for #2. Nice teamwork by EMI’s Ronn Werre and the label’s Mike Dungan on this one, which is positioned to contend for some time to come. That performance is enough to boost EMI over WMG into third place in the latest current year-to-date marketshare race.

Interscope’s Jimmy Iovine has to be humming “Imma Be,” as two of his acts’ albums, Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. and Lady Gaga’s The Fame, land in the #3 and #4 spots, respectively. In addition, Gaga’s eight-song Fame Monster EP is #12 this week.

Yet another UMG entry, Cash Money/Universal Motown’s Lil Wayne, continues his assault, with Rebirth rounding out the Top 5, logging in another 59k in sales. Though what he could really use right about now is a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

Columbia’s Susan Boyle (#6) and J Records/RMG’s Alicia Keys (#7) stay pretty steady, while Atlantic’s Jaheim (#8), MCA Nashville’s Josh Turner (#9) and Big Machine’s Taylor Swift complete the Top 10.

The only newcomer to the Top 50 is Nonesuch’s k.d. lang album, Recollection, at #32. The week’s biggest gainer is Def Jam/IDJ’s Rihanna, off the hot new single, “Rude Boy,” moving #35-16, +27%.

Hitting retail this week are American/Lost Highway’s final Rick Rubin-produced Johnny Cash album, Epitaph’s Alkaline Trio, Columbia Nashville’s Josh Thompson and highly touted indie artist Kina Grannis, whose album Stairwells is available on iTunes.