Ne-Yo’s ‘Own Words’ at No. 1

DRIVEN by the hit “So Sick,” R&B; singer Ne-Yo’s first album, “In My Own Words,” debuted Wednesday at No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts with 301,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The soulful Arkansas native is a newcomer as an artist, but the 23-year-old had already made a name for himself as a songwriter -- he co-wrote the Mario hit “Let Me Love You” and has penned songs for Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans.

Ne-Yo’s CD took over the top spot from the soundtrack to “High School Musical,” the Disney Channel movie, which slides to No. 2 with sales of 128,000 for the week.

“If Only You Were Lonely,” the sophomore album from the Ohio band Hawthorne Heights, debuted at No. 3 with 114,000 copies sold. That was enough to edge out “Precious Memories,” the new collection from country singer Alan Jackson, which sold 107,000 copies to open at No. 4.

The only other newcomer to the Top 20 was “Live Trucker,” the concert album from Kid Rock and the Twisted Brown Truckers, which finished at No. 12 in the sales tally with first-week sales of 56,000 copies.

The new chart also shows a jump in interest in the music of the late Johnny Cash -- “The Legend of Johnny Cash,” a new career retrospective, jumped 14 spots on the chart to capture the No. 6 position, while the soundtrack to the Cash biography film “Walk the Line” bolted 34 spots to land at No. 11.