Makeover puts a glow on Simpson’s ‘Skin’

Norah Jones logged her fourth week atop the national album sales chart by selling 204,000 copies of her sophomore album, “Feels Like Home,” last week, but it is pop pinup girl Jessica Simpson who has grabbed the industry’s attention.

Simpson’s 7-month-old “In This Skin” album catapulted from No. 16 to No. 2 after Columbia Records re-released it with a bonus DVD, extra tracks and an in-store promotion campaign that has caused near-rioting.

“In This Skin” tripled its weekly album sales figure last week, moving 160,000 copies to push its total since release past the 1 million mark, according to the Nielsen SoundScan sales monitoring service.

At a time when records, especially those by acts appealing predominantly to very young fans, are quickly pronounced dead if they haven’t turned multi-platinum in the first few weeks of release, the new lease on life for Simpson’s album underscores an adage gaining new respect in the record industry’s tough times: Don’t give up.

The “collector’s edition” of “In This Skin,” released last week, includes her new version of Berlin’s 1986 hit “Take My Breath Away” as well as a DVD including footage of her wedding to singer Nick Lachey and excerpts from their MTV reality series “Newlyweds.” Four teens were arrested last week at a Boston Wal-Mart that was mobbed by an estimated 5,000 fans who turned out to catch a glimpse of Simpson. Police shut down the event early, voicing concern for public safety.

Another in-store event scheduled for Monday in Dallas has been canceled, but it is not clear if it is because of public safety issues. She’s scheduled to appear tonight at Tower Records in Northridge.

Outside of Simpson’s leap, the Top 10 album list remained much the same as it was last week. R&B; singer Cee-Lo had the highest debut, entering at No. 13 on sales of 56,000 copies of his latest, “Cee-Lo Green ... Is the Soul Machine.”