Well, at least Kelly Clarkson is singing on one No. 1 album this year. Her remake of her previous pop hit “Because of You” with Reba McEntire has been burning up the country radio charts, and it helped McEntire’s Duets collection to debut at the top of the sales chart with 301,000 units moved last week. Additional celebrity couplings with everyone from Kenny Chesney to Justin Timberlake — and massive exposure on the Oprah and Larry King shows — didn’t hurt when it came to giving Reba her best opening week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. (You suppose that The WB is finally getting around to harboring regrets over canceling McEntire’s decently-rated sitcom? Nah, probably not.)

So now that Reba is firmly ruling the roost, which rapper will feel compelled to retire? Predictably, both Kanye West and 50 Cent took huge hits after their huge debuts last week. West’s Graduation slid 76 percent to end up with second-week sales of 226,000. 50′s Curtis was down 79 percent, to 143,000. Last week’s No. 3, Kenny Chesney’s Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates, was off by close to that amount (71 percent) to sell 112,000.

The West/50 Cent/Chesney perfect storm of last week had pundits calling their Sept. 11 release date “Super Tuesday.” But Sept. 18 turned out to be sorta super-ish in its own way, just in terms of offering a plethora of new releases from mid-level stars (many of them trying to get their albums out in time to beat the end-of-September deadline for 2008 Grammy consideration). After Reba, the top bow belonged to Barry Manilow, who rode a QVC appearance and a View-related controversy to 113,000 in sales for The Greatest Songs of the Seventies, landing him at No. 3. Sounds good, but his last release, Greatest Songs of the Sixties, fared even better with a 202,000-copy entrance. James Blunt’s sophomore album, All the Lost Souls, was just beautiful enough with 92,000 at No. 7. Right behind Blunt was a nearly unbroken string of chart newcomers. Chamillionaire debuted at No. 8 with 79,000 — a big comedown from his last album’s 130K first week; KT Tunstall’s second effort sold 50,000 to land at No. 9; Twista was in at No. 10 with 41K, way, way down from his previous 129K opening; Eddie Vedder’s Into the Wild song score came in at No. 11 with 39,000 — not bad for the soundtrack to a movie that hasn’t yet opened in more than a half-dozen theaters.

Also making a debut in the top 30: H.I.M. at No. 12; Motion City Soundtrack at No. 16; Diana Krall’s best-of at No. 19; Dropkick Murphys at No. 20; Gloria Estefan at No. 25; and Mark Knopfler at No. 26.

Commandeering the charts next week, with little competition, will be Rascal Flatts, whose Sept. 25 release is expected to sell over a half-million by this time next week, but probably not get into the 700K-plus territory that their last album did. Meanwhile, Keyshia Cole is said to be a lock for No. 2 while first-day reports from retailers about the solo debut from Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am suggest that he’s delivered a will.i.dud.

Less than a week after we first told you that Whitestarr is calling it quits, singer Cisco Adler has sent a lengthy e-mail out to fans. He writes, “After 7 of the craziest, most wonderful years of my life, 3 albums (1 never released), a thousand shows, and a reality t.v.show, I have decided to take a vacation from Whitestarr. We are all still best friends and almost-lovers and we dont want anybody to think that any turmoil inside the band lead to this…I just feel it is time for a break….”

Check out his full (and woefully unedited) message, after the jump …

After 7 of the craziest, most wonderful years of my life, 3 albums (1 never released), a thousand shows, and a reality t.v.show, I have decided to take a vacation from Whitestarr. We are all still best friends and almost-lovers and we dont want anybody to think that any turmoil inside the band lead to this…I just feel it is time for a break. I feel like Whitestarr has left it’s mark on the fabric of rock n’ roll whether people like it or not and I don’t want people to panic…WHITESTARR will be back. I do however feel that over the years everything surrounding this band has sadly overshadowed the music I poured my heart and soul into. The party was good…but the music was better. Not the other way around. And if you don’t think so you weren’t listening. I was never in this to be a rock star…I am a musician and I was born to create and record and play. Thats what I do. Thats what i will still do.

I have been through many, many line ups with this band and I would like to say thanks to all of you who ever played even a tambourine with us…you are all priceless. I would also like to say thanks to all of the die hard fans out there who didnt give a f— about anything but the music and stuck with us through thick and thin. WHITESTARR will be back!!!! But as a songwriter and a producer I have always been all over the board taking influences from anything and everything that sparks my interest. I have been producing and writing music for 10 years now and as many of you know if I’m not working or playing with the starr I’m in the studio with a ton of different artists. Heres what I got going on…

I am about to start work on MICKEY AVALON’s second record and weve already cut a few tracks recently that look like lead off singles. They just shot the video for the second single off the first album, a track I produced and co-wrote with my boy called “Mr. Right.” It’s gonna be sick!!
check it out at myspace.com/mickeyavalonmusic

I am also finishing up work on the “SHWAYZE” record. It is a record I am truly proud of and I think it’s gonna be the soundtrack to a lot of peoples lives. It comes out in the spring of 08!

And SHWAYZE and I will be taking the PEPPER dates that I was going to do with WHITESTARR. Please come out and support this new adventure.
check it out at myspace.com/shwayze

AND go pick up DIRT NASTY and ANDRE LEGACY’s albums because they are hip-hop classics. I got a few cuts on each of em!
myspace.com/dirtnasty
myspace.com/andrelegacy

And…in between and on the run I will be writing and recording songs for a new album of my own! It will be a little of everything I do musically and should be ready by summer next year and will be on SURETONE RECORDS. Check out my demos at myspace.com/ciscosam

I LOVE YOU ALL MADLY,
THIS IS NOT THE END BUT A NEW BEGINING!!!’
Cisco

Please dont forget to visit Rainbow(& Beardo), Orbi, Tony Potato and Damone on their pages and please dont let the dream die just because were on vacation. The world needs WHITESTARR…it just doesnt
know it yet…well be back!! GO GET FILLITH TILLITH…it is a rock n roll wet dream!!! On to the nest stage of our lives…the good thing about music is it lives on forever!

…and as for THE ROCK LIFE, that was a strange and wonderful experience. Dont you EVER, EVER look at me again. But dont think that all we do is fight…that just makes good t.v. We laugh and love just as hard.

Mariah Carey will be back with a new album this December and a tour to follow, Island Def Jam head LA Reid told reporters at last night’s VH1 Save the Music event in New York City. So what can we expect? “It’s probably the most fun record that I’ve ever had,” said Carey. “And that’s tough to say after the Emancipation of Mimi, but it really is.”

Canada’s reigning indie rockers Arcade Fire kicked off their co-headlining US tour (with LCD Soundsystem) last night at the Hollywood Bowl. Spotted in the audience: Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, KT Tunstall, and Drew Barrymore (who also caught the band at the Austin City Limits music festival last week with rumored beau Justin Long).