Girl group gets a nice welcome

Reality-show-bred girl group Danity Kane lands atop this week’s U.S. pop chart and gives the graduates of MTV’s “Making the Band” its second No. 1 album. Meanwhile, rap newcomer Flo Rida finds that even a pair of hot-selling singles doesn’t guarantee a six-figure entry.

Danity Kane’s “Welcome to the Dollhouse” bows atop the chart, selling 236,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s on par with the 234,000 first-week figure for the act’s 2006 debut, which went on to sell about 922,000 copies.

Entering at a distant No. 4 is Flo Rida, whose “Mail on Sunday” follows his Top 30 singles “Low,” featuring T-Pain, and “Elevator,” featuring Timbaland. “Mail” sold 86,000 copies, but the release feels a bit anticlimatic after the digital sales posted by his singles.

“Low,” for instance, has sold 3.4 million digital downloads to date, which, according to Billboard, makes it the top-selling digital track of all time. “Elevator” is no slouch, either, having sold 373,000 digital downloads.

Gnarls Barkley’s rush-released “The Odd Couple” arrives at No. 18. It sold 31,000 copies after being released to digital retailers on March 18. The CD had originally been pegged for an April 8 release, but it was bumped up after leaking online. Of the 31,000 copies sold, 26,000 were from digital retailers.

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