KEEP ON GIFT-ING

Susan Boyle’s The Gift remains at the top of holiday shopping lists.

The unlikely Scot pop star remains at #1 on the HITS Top 50 Album chart, adding another 323k, up 1% over last week’s total.

She is the lone holdover, aside from Big Machine’s Taylor Swift at #9, topping a list of eight debuts in the Top 10.

Fellow Simon Cowell discovery, America’s Got Talent alum Jackie Evancho, the 10-year-old diva with the big operatic voice, gives Steve Barnett’s Team Columbia the #1-2 punch this week, debuting with a total of 239k for her four-song CD/five-song DVD O Holy Night.

Chart newcomers Def Jam/IDJ’s Rihanna (#3), Reprise’s Josh Groban (#4), Atlantic’s Kid Rock (#5), Big Machine’s Rascal Flatts (#6), Capitol Nashville’s Keith Urban (#7), Columbia’s Glee Cast Christmas Album (#8) and Universal Motown’s Nelly (#10) round out the leaders.

Tony Brummel’s indie Victory Records score an impressive debut with veteran Florida rockers A Day to Remember’s What Separates Me from You, bowing at #12 with a hearty 55k.

Other debuts are scored by LaFace/JLG’s P!nk (#14), Columbia’s Bruce Springsteen (#16 with two-CD The Promise and #21 for the deluxe Darkness on the Edge of Town box set), 19/RCA/RMG’s Lee Dewyze (#17), Six Steps Records’ Chris Tomlin (#23), Blue Note/EMI’s Norah Jones (#27) and Decca’s Annie Lennox (#45).

Biggest gain of the week goes to Capitol Nashville/EMI country superstars Lady Antebellum's Merry Little Christmas, which climbs #37-20, +126%.

A pair of Reprise holiday perennials re-enter the charts with Josh Groban’s Noel (#29) and Michael Buble’s Let It Snow (#36), while Susan Boyle’s debut, I Dreamed a Dream slips back in at #50.

The only Beatles album to make the cut is Abbey Road, at #44, with 19k in sales, all but 2-3k of them digital.

Next week, with Black Friday looming, look for Roc-A-Fella/IDJ’s Kanye West to debut at #1, with Cash Money/Universal Motown’s Nicki Minaj a lock for #2, Other new releases include Reprise’s My Chemical Romance, Def Jam/IDJ’s Ne-Yo, Roc Nation’s Jay-Z greatest hits album, Arista Nashville’s Alan Jackson, RCA/RMG’s Burlesque soundtrack (with Christina Aguilera and Cher), Universal Republic’s Atomic Tom and Kemosabe/RCA/RMG’s Ke$ha deluxe edition.