Adam Lambert's chart-topper 'Trespassing' is a high and a low

When Season 11 of "American Idol" comes to a close in a few hours, no one should feel too sorry for the runner-up. One need only to look to this week's pop charts for evidence that the "American Idol" crown isn't a requisite to cultivating a fanbase. The theatrical pop-rocker Adam Lambert finished second on "American Idol" during its eighth season, and this week he earned his first No. 1 album in "Trespassing." 

Lambert's "Trespassing," his second full-length since competing on the talent show, sold 77,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album's title track, meanwhile, has sold just north of 11,000 downloads. 

This chart-topper, however, isn't entirely a cause for celebration. Lambert's 2009 debut, "For Your Entertainment," opened with a much heartier 198,000 copies sold in its first week, when it arrived at No. 3 during the holiday season. "Trespassing" can boast that it is the lowest-selling No. 1 since Amos Lee's "Mission Bell" opened with 40,000 copies a little more than a year ago.

Just behind Lambert is U.K. singing sensation Adele, whose "21" has been in the top 10 now for an astonishing 65 weeks and sold an additional 63,000 copies this week. The title has sold more than 9 million copies. Carrie Underwood, another "Idol" vet, had last week's No. 1 with "Blown Away," which this week sold 54,000 copies. In three weeks, "Blown Away" has sold more than 440,000 copies.

Rock 'n' roll hucksters Tenacious D landed in the top 10 with their latest, "Rize of the Fenix." The duo of Jack Black and Kyle Glass sold a little more than 44,000 copies of their latest, their first since the movie-musical "The Pick of Destiny" in 2006. 

Sup Pop's elegant dream-pop act Beach House cracked the top 10 for the first time in its career. The indie duo's latest, "Bloom," entered at No. 7 with about 41,000 copies sold. The band's 2010 effort, "Teen Dream," was a career breakthrough, landing the act gigs at the Hollywood Bowl and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

R. Kelly still trapped in closet; Adam Lambert released from jail

Two singers and tabloid favorites are making news in the field of involuntary confinement.

The R&B lothario R. Kelly, fresh off announcing his exquisitely titled memoir, "Soula Coaster," and a concert cruise in October (woe that David Foster Wallace isn't around to write about that one), has decided to revisit his ongoing serialized pop-opera "Trapped in the Closet." Kelly told TMZ he's written 32 new chapters in the Byzantine murder-adultery-utter-insanity saga, but is looking for investors before production, because "it costs a lot of money to do." This is clear evidence of a crisis in public arts funding in America.