Jones comes away with No. 1

After nearly a year as a fixture in the Top 40 of the nation’s pop sales charts, Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me” album finally took over the No. 1 position Wednesday, thanks in part to the added interest generated by five Grammy nominations.

The album moved from No. 2 last week to No. 1 by selling 108,000 copies, giving it a total of 2.9 million sales in the U.S. since its release in February, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The 23-year-old singer, whose classy, restrained vocal style incorporates elements of pop, country, jazz and blues, goes into the Feb. 23 Grammy finals with nominations including best album, best record (the wistful “Don’t Know Why”) and best new artist.

The soundtrack to “8 Mile,” featuring rappers Eminem, Jay-Z, 50 Cent and others, fell to No. 5 this week after topping the charts for two weeks. Its total sales to date: 3.7 million.

Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” was the only other best album nominee to move up the charts this week -- and it was a modest move, up five places to No. 79.

-- Robert Hilburn