After seven weeks on the chart, Josh Groban's holiday set Noel finally overtakes The Billboard 200 at No. 1. The 143/Reprise album ascends 2-1, selling 405,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The 81 percent increase was fueled in part by his surprise appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show last week.

Noel is the first Christmas-themed set to top the chart since Kenny G's 1994 album Miracles, and the 405,000 units marks Groban's best sales week ever.

Alicia Keys' As I Am (J) flip-flops with Noel, slipping 1-2 with a 53 percent sales decrease to 349,000. The hits compilation Now 26 climbs a notch 4-3 with 234,000. Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits (Pearl) moves up 5-4 with 192,000 (-6 percent) and the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden (Eagles Recording Co.) follows suit, ascending 6-5 with 184,000 (-7 percent).

The soundtrack to Disney's High School Musical 2 rockets up 14-6 with a 130 percent sales increase to 183,000; with that, the set surpasses Daughtry's self-titled set as the top selling album in 2007.

Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride (Arista Nashville) climbs 9-7 with 141,000 and a 25 percent sales bump, while Celine Dion's Columbia album Taking Chances falls 3-8 following a 40 percent sales decrease to 128,000. Inching up 10-9, Chris Brown's Exclusive (Jive) sells 121,000 (+10 percent).

Jordin Sparks, who was crowned the winner on American Idol earlier this year, starts at No. 10 with her self-titled 19 Recordings/Jive set, moving 119,000. It is the lowest start and smallest sales debut for any of the show's winners on the tally.

Keith Urban's first best-of collection, Capitol's Greatest Hits, debuts at No. 11 with 117,000. It's the Aussie country singer's fourth straight album to start in the top 11, dating back to 2002's Golden Road, which also entered at No. 11. MercyMe's All That Is Within Me (Columbia) lands at No. 15 with 84,000 and is also the act's fourth No. 1 on Top Christian Albums.

Only two other albums bow inside of the top 50 on The Billboard 200: Philly rapper Freeway's Free at Last (G-Unit/Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) starts at No. 42 with 36,000 and the soundtrack to Enchanted (Disney) debuts at No. 48 with 31,000.

This week, the top 11 albums all sold more than 100,000 copies, helped by the first week of the post-Thanksgiving shopping season. However, sales this week (13.94 million units) are down 18.1 percent from the same week last year (17.02 million). This week's sum is up 19 percent from last week's.