All I Ever Wanted becomes Clarkson's second number one album, following the example of her 2003 debut, Thankful. It sold 255,000 copies last week, to lift her career album sales to just shy of 10m. All four of her albums to date have opened with sales between 250,000 and 300,000.

In contrast to Clarkson's consistency and longevity, the idiosyncratic Taylor Hicks follows up the number two success of his eponymous post-Idol album by debuting at number 58 with The Distance. ...