'Titanic' disc nearing record
Boat soundtrack sales at 6.5 million units
A pair of Oscar wins for best song and best dramatic score helped the soundtrack post a sizable sales boost and remain the bestselling album in the nation for the 12th consecutive week.
The disc is hot on the heels of "Exodus," which is the longest-running instrumental disc at No. 1 for 14 weeks; while "Titanic" is also just shy of topping the 14-week run of the pop soundtrack to "The Bodyguard."
The Sony Classical/Sony Music Soundtrax disc went home with more than 476,000 consumers, according to sales data released Wednesday covering the period ended March 29.
The disc posted an impressive 20,000-unit boost from the previous week, fueled by the Academy Award wins.
While "Titanic" is close to setting a new standard for chart-topping success, it still has a way to go to set a record for sales. As previously noted, the disc has already sold more than 6.5 million copies in its 22 weeks in release, and with an average per-week tally of nearly 400,000 copies, some observers are saying it will eventually topple "The Bodyguard," current soundtrack record-holder with more than 16 million copies sold.
The Oscar wins for "Titanic" also helped Celine Dion's 550/Epic Records disc "Let's Talk About Love" log a sales tally of nearly 217,000 copies as the songstress performed "My Heart Will Go On" on the Oscarcast -- a track that appears on both Dion's and the "Titanic" disc. Dion's sales tally was bumped by 17,000 copies from the previous week.
Cappadonna, whose track "Run" is getting heavy radio action on the nation's urban stations, nabbed the chart's No. 3 spot. More than 131,000 copies of its Razor Sharp/Epic Records disc "The Pillage" landed in the hands of rap devotees. Sony, which owns Epic, can lay claim to the three top-selling discs in the nation.
Add to the list Savage Garden's eponymous Columbia Records bow at No. 5 on sales action of 117,000 copies, and the conglom owned four of the top 10 albums in the nation.
Madonna's "Ray of Light" reversed a three-notch slide from last week and rose one chart berth to No. 4. Nearly 118,000 copies of the Maverick/Warner Bros. Records disc were sold -- though sales of the disc fell by 50,000 copies over the previous week's tally.
At No. 6 was the Backstreet Boys' self-titled Jive Records bow, which logged 95,000 copies during the period and rose two spots. The band's catchy single "Everybody" has become a musicvid fave and is getting increased airplay on Top 40 radio.
"Give Me Life or Death," the Priority Records bow from C-Murder, dropped four slots to No. 7 on sales of 91,000 copies. The disc's sales total was cut by more than half from the previous week's 198,000 copy take -- a typical drop for hip-hop discs.
Eric Clapton's "Pilgrim" slid one slot to No. 8 on sales of 87,000 copies of the Duck/Reprise Records disc; while K-Ci & Jo Jo's MCA Records disc "Love Always" logged nearly 76,000 copies and held steady at No. 9 for the second week.
The duo's "All My Life" single has become a radio staple and is the No. 1 track in the nation for the second consecutive week.
Closing out the top 10 was "My Way" from LaFace/Arista artist Usher, which rose two slots from the previous chart.
The disc topped 69,000 copies to land at No. 10 and is being buoyed by the popular single "Nice & Slow." More than 1 million copies of the single have been sold in its 11 weeks of release, and the album has logged 2.2 million in sales during its 26-week run.
Other notable chart debuts include Aretha Franklin scoring her highest career bow in the SoundScan era with "A Rose Is Still a Rose," which landed at No. 30 on sales of 34,000 copies.
Trisha Yearwood's appearance on the Academy Awards telecast to warble the Oscar-nominated tune "How Do I Live" aided the 16-post rise of her MCA Records Nashville disc "Songbook: A Collection."
The best-of album, which includes the song from the Warner Bros. film "Con Air" and went home with nearly 21,000 copies during the survey period, has been snapped up by more than 1.8 million fans. It is among a mere handful of country music discs on the album sales chart.
