In a battle of star singers, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli reclaimed the top spot on the chart from soprano Ren_e Fleming. Fleming's Sacred Songs, which had dethroned Bartoli's Opera Proibita last week, dropped down to number two.

The biggest mover of the week was Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony's recording of Mahler's Seventh Symphony, which jumped from number 20 to number four in its second week on the chart.

Odyssey, the latest album from 18-year-old soprano Hayley Westenra, debuted on the classical-crossover chart this week at number three. Also new to the chart was Classical Favorites for the Holidays, a compilation assembled by the magazine Martha Stewart Living, at number 13. The debut album from Il Divo was at number one for the 26th time in the last 27 weeks.