Rapper Ludacris [ tickets ] notches a No. 1 debut on the forthcoming Billboard 200 album chart with his latest set, "Release Therapy," which sold about 309,000 copies during its first week out, according to Billboard.

Janet Jackson [ tickets ]'s "20 Y.O." follows close behind with first-week sales of about 296,000 copies, while Tony Bennett logs in a distant third with "Duets: An American Classic," which moved about 202,000 copies.

Rounding out the Top 5 are Alan Jackson's "Like Red on a Rose," which enters the chart at No. 4, and Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/LoveSounds," which falls to No. 5 after spending two weeks in the top slot.

Rockers Chevelle [ tickets ] have entered the studio to begin work on the follow-up to their gold-certified 2004 album, "This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)," according to Epic Records. The yet-to-be-titled disc, which the group is recording with "This Type of Thinking" producer Michael "Elvis Baskette," is tentatively scheduled for a spring 2007 release.

Tool [ tickets ], Jet, The Killers, Violent Femmes and Muse are among the acts who've signed on for next year's edition of the annual Big Day Out festival tour, which takes place in Australia and New Zealand. Dates are set for January and February--summer months in the land Down Under--and tickets hit the box office later this month. Details are posted at the tour's official website.

"The Information," the new album from quirky alt-rock/pop sensation Beck [ tickets ], hit stores earlier this week in both the US and UK, but don't look for it to debut on the next UK chart, according to a press release from Beck's publicist.

"Come next week, no matter how high its first week sales, "The Information" will not be charting in the UK due to a bizarre ruling by the UK's Official Chart Company," the release reads. "According to the OCC, "The Information"'s packaging innovations ... render the record ineligible to chart in the UK.

"Ironically, the DVD of homemade videos for every song on "The Information" and the four random sticker sets designed by artists handpicked by Beck have been construed by the OCC as an 'unfair advantage'--rather than what they actually are: unique and forward-thinking additional facets that expand the album experience beyond the purchase of a plastic disc."