GROBAN KEEPS GROWING

David Foster’s discovery continues to dominate holiday sales, as his Reprise seasonal album Noel remains at #1 this week, with a whopping 530k and a 31% bump over last week. That’s a lot of stocking stuffers, folks.

The Eagles continue their impressive Long run through Wal-Mart, by climbing back to #2, with 310k and an even better 43% gain.

Alicia Keys’ J Records album, As I Am, is also a winner at #3, with 255k in sales. EMI’s Now 26 and Pearl Records’ Garth Brooks round out the Top 5.

The rest of the Top 10 includes a pair of Disney acts in Hannah Montana 2 (#6) and High School Musical 2 (#8), the latter still the year’s top seller to date, along with Columbia’s Celine Dion (#7), Arista Nashville/RMG’s Carrie Underwood (#9) and American Gramaphone/Fontana’s perennial Mannheim Steamroller (#10), up 32%.

Jive/ZLG’s Justin Timberlake re-enters at #20, thanks to a new deluxe edition of his FutureSex/LoveSounds album, as does Reunion’s Casting Crowns (#40) and Columbia’s opera singing everyman Paul Potts (#42).

Larry the Cable Guy is one of two newcomers, with his Christmastime in Larryland album on Warner Bros. Nashville, at #44, along with Jive/ZLG’s Chris Brown-fueled This Christmas soundtrack (#47).

In addition to Groban, the Eagles and Mannheim, Show Dog/Universal Nashville’s Toby Keith, whose holiday album Classic Christmas moves #43-25, registers the only other double-digit gain, up 10%.

Between now and the end of the year, the only bit of serious business as far as superstar releases go remains Geffen’s Mary J. Blige, with her new album Growing Pains scheduled to arrive in stores Dec. 18.

The question remains: What would Jesus buy?