Nelly Furtado

Nearly three years after the release of her disappointing sophomore effort "Folklore," Nelly Furtado is back on the musical map -- in a big way.

The Victoria, BC native's sexed up third disc, "Loose," shot to the top of the Canadian charts this week with sales of over 34,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan Canada.

The album, her first No. 1 effort of her career, tripled the first-week numbers of "Folklore," which came in at No. 18 with 18,000 in sales back in December of '03.

Furtado has certainly done her fair share of work promoting "Loose." She has gone on a media blitz, including live appearances on the MuchMusic Video Awards, "The Today Show," and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," as well as a barrage of interviews, including one for the Toronto Sun (read here).

The Timbaland-produced disc also snagged the No. 1 spot south of the border, selling 219,000 copies of "Loose" in the U.S, according to Billboard.com.

Back in Canada, the Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" (20,000) was relegated to the No. 2 spot, followed by Three Days Grace's "One X" (12,000) at No. 3, and the premiere of Madonna's first-ever live disc "I'm Going to Tell You a Secret" at No. 4.

Shakira's "Oral Fixation Vol. 2" fell from No. 3 to No. 5, while French artist Garou's self-titled effort and Keane's "Under the Iron Sea" debuted at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively.

Rihanna's "Girl Like Me" held onto the No. 8 slot, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium" sank five positions to No. 9, and James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam" rounded out the top 10.

Other notable debuts included Underoath's "Define the Great Line" at No. 14, the compilation "Stacked Hits 2006" at No. 25, Jacksoul's "MySoul" at No. 32, and Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled disc at No. 39.

In the U.S., Underoath claimed the second spot, followed by the Dixie Chicks in third, Keane in fourth, and Busta Rhymes' "The Big Bang" in fifth.