THE CHARTS

THE NEED FOR CREED

It's a boxing day tradition: In the week right after Christmas, mainstream pop albums typically fall, while more hard-edged rock and hip-hop albums rise, as parental present-buying comes to a halt and kids bearing gift certificates retake the record stores. That's why Linkin Park jumped five spots to No. 2, Ludacris leaped a dozen positions to No. 4, and Ja Rule also pushed forward 12 spots to No. 8--knocking stocking-friendly albums by Britney and Garth out of the top 10. But at No. 1, Creed continued to be as popular with the gift-exchange crowd as they had been with Santa's helpers: Their winter Weathered added another 398,000 logs to the group's sales fire.

POP ALBUMS

LAST WEEK WEEKS ON CHART

1 1 CREED Weathered, Wind-Up 6 2 7 LINKIN PARK Hybrid Theory, Warner Bros. 62 3 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS NOW That's What I Call Music! 8, Virgin 6 4 16 LUDACRIS Word of Mouf, Def Jam 5 5 6 NICKELBACK Silver Side Up, Roadrunner 16 6 9 USHER 8701, Arista 21 7 5 ENYA A Day Without Rain, Reprise 58 8 20 JA RULE Pain Is Love, Murder Inc./Def Jam 13 9 8 NAS Stillmatic, Ill Will/Columbia 2 10 10 PINK M!ssundaztood, Arista 6 11 13 NO DOUBT Rock Steady, Interscope 3 12 4 BRITNEY SPEARS Britney, Jive 8 13 17 SHAKIRA Laundry Service, Epic 7 14 3 GARTH BROOKS Scarecrow, Capitol Nashville 7 15 11 LIL' BOW WOW Doggy Bag, So So Def/Columbia 2

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