BIEBER BACK IN FRONT

The Island/IDJ teenpop whiz regains the #1 spot on HITS’ Top 50 Album chart with 106k in sales, more than enough to leapfrog LaFace/JLG’s Usher, whose Raymond v Raymond dips to #2 and 87k sold.

Despite all the brouhaha surrounding parent company Terra Firma, the EMI Music troops continue to battle on, scoring the next three of the Top 5, including Slash’s Dik Hayd/EMI Label Service’s solo bow, which debuts at #3 with 61k.

Capitol Nashville/EMI’s Lady Antebellum (#4), the year’s top-selling album, and Capitol/EMI’s Now 33 (#5) round out the top finishers.

Madonna’s WB CD/DVD of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, bows at #8, behind J/RMG soul diva Monica (#6) and Interscope’s Lady Gaga The Fame (#7), followed by Universal Motown’s Erykah Badu (#9) and DTP/Def Jam/IDJ’s Ludacris (#10).

Columbia’s Jakob Dylan, with his second solo effort, Women + Country, produced by T Bone Burnett, is the week’s other top debut at #12, along with neo-soul queen Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ Daptone album, I Learned the Hard Way (#16), ATO’s John Butler Trio (#28), Verve/UMe’s Peter Wolf (#38), XL/Beggars’ Jonsi (#42) and Psychopathic’s Insane Clown Posse reissue Bang! Pow! Boom! Nuclear Version (#50).

Columbia Nashville’s Miranda Lambert (#29) and Atlantic’s Skillet (#45) both re-enter this week.

The only title showing any upward mobility is Merge’s She & Him, the collaboration between M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, which moves #38-23, +4%.

Hitting retail today is Columbia’s MGMT and Coheed and Cambria, Atco/Rhino’s Jeff Beck and Mercury Nashville’s Laura Bell Bundy. Columbia’s AC/DC Iron Man 2 soundtrack hits the following Monday (4/19).