LAVIGNE'S DAMN GOOD, REZNOR'S ZERO TO #2

Pop-punk diva Lavigne returns with her third Arista release, The Best Damn Thing, which takes #1 on the HITS Top 50 Album chart with almost 290k in first-week sales.

That’s more than enough to outdistance the week’s other big newcomer, Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero, Trent Reznor’s future shock vision of a troubled world, backed by a comprehensive Internet campaign that adds context to the sci-fi tale in the form of a cyber scavenger hunt for fans. The album sells more than 187k in first-week tallies, debuting at #2.

The Top 10’s other newcomer is Lyric Street’s sleeper Bucky Convington, a former American Idol contestant who scores 62k in sales, good for #4.

Holdovers include EMI’s Now 24 (#3), SBMG Nashville’s HITS cover gal Martina McBride (#5), RCA/RMG’s Daughtry (#6), Curb’s Tim McGraw (#7), SRC/Universal Motown’s Akon (#8), Arista/RMG’s Carrie Underwood (#9) and Interscope’s Timbaland (#10).

Chart debuts are registered by Curb’s Clay Walker (#14) and TVT’s Lumidee (#49), while Mercury Nashville’s Sugarland (#36) and LaFace/ZLG’s Pink (#44) re-enter.

Last week’s nationally televised CMT 07 Music Awards led to some major advances on the charts for McBride (+28%), who appeared on last week’s American Idol, along with Underwood (+30%), also exploding at Pop radio, Lyric Street’s Rascal Flatts (#38-26, +29%) and MCA Nashville’s Gary Allan (#46, +23%).

Other gains are registered by Star Trak/Interscope’s Robin Thicke (#19-11, +49%) and the week’s biggest mover, A&M/Interscope’s Fergie (#21-12, +57%), as well as a pair of Virgin rock development stories in Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (#47, +30%) and 30 Seconds to Mars (#50, +19%).

Next week, look for Domino U.K. sensations Arctic Monkeys’ sophomore album Favourite Worst Nightmare to crash the charts, along with Jive/ZLG’s Joe.