HOVA ALL OVER!

Whitney Houston’s Clive Davis-helmed Arista/RMG comeback took its cue from yet another diva with a pair of appearances on Oprah re-igniting sales and pushing the album to #2 with 166k, a whopping 99% increase.

Current Warner Bros. U.K. darlings Muse’s Resistance is the week’s top newcomer at #3, with 125k, followed by emerging Universal Motown hip-hop star Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of Day at #4, with 104k, giving the chart four albums selling in six figures.

Cash Money/Universal Motown rapper du jour Drake’s seven-song So Far Gone bows at #6, giving Sylvia Rhone’s label two of the Top 6, while Asylum rapper Lil Boosie’s Superbad: The Return of Boosie checks in at #9.

Hollywood’s Miley Cyrus (#5), Apple/Capitol’s Abbey Road (#7), Epic’s Michael Jackson Number Ones album (#8) and Big Machine’s resilient Taylor Swift—up another 36% thanks to her own VMA performance (#10)—and, yeah, Kanye West round out the Top 10.

Other chart newcomers include Roadrunner’s Megadeth (#12), Hollywood boy band Honor Society (#22), Warner Bros. veteran guitarist Mark Knopfler (#27), Essential’s Ace Frehley (#44), Atlantic’s Uncle Kracker (#45), Universal Music Latino’s Nelly Furtado (#46) and Metal Blade’s Black Dahlia Murder (#50).

Buoyed by their VMA performances, LaFace/JLG superstar Pink’s Funhouse (#36) and Columbia diva Beyonce’s I Am…Sasha Fierce (#49) re-enter the chart. Interscope’s Lady Gaga also took advantage of MTV exposure to go #36-15, +80%, as did Michael Jackson’s Number Ones (+8%).

The list of new albums hitting retail includes Target, indie and iTunes exclusive Pearl Jam, Jive/JLG’s Three Days Grace, Columbia’s Harry Connick Jr., Beluga Heights/Epic’s Sean Kingston, Casablanca/Universal Republic’s Mika and DGC’s Brand New.