Verve Music GroupWith the holidays fast approaching, Rod Stewart has made a big splash on the Billboard 200 chart with his new album, Merry Christmas, Baby, which debuted at the #3.  The singer's first-ever holiday collection sold 88,000 copies in its first week of release.

Helping the album get off to a fast start was an October 26 HSN special that featured performances by Rod, during which more than 20,000 copies of the disc were scooped up.  Merry Christmas, Baby is Stewart's 16th solo release to reach the top 10 of the Billboard albums tally.

Also premiering on the Billboard 200 this week is Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Psychedelic Pill, which sold 34,000 copies to land at #8.  The two-CD set becomes the second top 10 debut this year for Young and his longtime backing group.  Americana, their recent album of traditional cover tunes, bowed at #6 back in June.

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