Timbaland soars to No. 1 on U.S. singles chart

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Red-hot R&B hitmaker Timbaland's "Give It to Me" featuring

Nelly Furtado and

Justin Timberlake soared 41 places to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart Thursday, thanks to a flurry of digital downloading.

It represents the second-biggest leap to the top in the almost 49-year existence of Billboard's flagship Hot 100 singles chart, behind only the 51-place surge of

Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" in 2002.

After spending eight weeks in the lower regions of the Hot 100, "Give It to Me" got a boost from the sudden availability of a digital version for sale, coinciding with the release of his album, "Timbaland Presents Shock Value," which opened at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Wednesday.

The track sold 248,000 downloads. Only Timberlake, whose "SexyBack" shifted 250,000 downloads last September, has had a better opening week for digital sales.

"Give It to Me" is the first No. 1 for Timbaland as a lead artist, though he also went to the top as featured artist on Furtado's "Promiscuous." Prior to "Give It to Me," Timbaland had four chart entries as a lead artist, the best of which was "Up Jumps the Boogie," which went to No. 12 in 1997.

Additionally this week, Timbaland had two tracks debut on the Hot 100: "Release," which also features Timberlake, at No. 91; and "Apologize," which features One Republic, at No. 95.

Linkin Park's "What I've Done" was the chart's top debut at No. 7, besting the No. 47 bow of "Somewhere I Belong" in March 2003. The Los Angeles rock band was last in the top 10 with "In the End," which peaked at No. 2 in 2002. Its new album, "Minutes to Midnight," arrives May 15.

Only two other tunes have enjoyed higher debuts in 2007: Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" (No. 2) and

Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" (No. 5).

Elsewhere in this week's top tier, Akon's "Don't Matter" slipped to No. 2 after two weeks at No. 1, while

Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape," which also features Akon, was also down one, to No. 3.

Fergie's "Glamorous" featuring Ludacris held at No. 4, and rapper Mims' former chart-topper "This Is Why I'm Hot" fell two to No. 5. Lavigne's "Girlfriend" remained at No. 6. Her new album, "Best Damn Thing," comes out next week.

Gym Class Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold" featuring Patrick Stump fell one to No. 8, while Beyonce and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar" was down one to No. 9. T-Pain's "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc, rose four to No. 10.

Other songs new to the chart included Dashboard Confessional's "Stolen" at No. 65, Ashley Tisdale's "Kiss the Girl" at No. 81, Fabolous' "Diamonds" featuring Young Jeezy at No. 83 and Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" at No. 84.

Reuters/Billboard