Jay-Z adds 5th week
Def Jam rapper tops charts, Dru debut cops No. 2
Jay-Z's disc was one of five holdovers among last week's top 10 list, which this week was heavy with debuts, such as "Enter the Dru" from Island Records act Dru Hill (which bowed at No. 2).
The sophomore album from the group nabbed sales north of 127,000 copies, and was one of four new albums to debut in the top 10.
Album sales action picked up slightly from the previous week among the top 20 list, with the top three albums logging six-figure tallies, compared with last week, during which only the top two discs nabbed such totals.
Polygram success
Discs from the Polygram family of artists ruled the top 10, with four on the list (including two from just the Def Jam label alone) for the third consecutive week. BMG owned three of the top 10.
R.E.M.'s latest Warner Bros. disc, "Up," landed at No. 3 on sales of more than 117,000 copies, easily besting the 93,000 copy tally logged by Lauryn Hill's Ruffhouse/Columbia Records album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," which ended a three-week run at No. 2 to slide to No. 4.
At No. 5 was "Come on Over," the sophomore offering from Mercury Records Nashville songstress Shania Twain, which slid two berths on sales of nearly 90,000 copies.
The eagerly awaited Bad Boy/Arista Records bow from Faith Evans, "Keep the Faith," logged a first-week tally north of 85,000 copies, and barely held off RCA Records ensemble 'N-Sync, which slid three slots to No. 7. Less than 500 copies separated the two albums.
"Story of the Ghost," from Elektra Entertainment act Phish, debuted at No. 8 during its first week, with more than 75,000 copies going home with fans. It also logged a tally sufficient to top the nearly 70,000 units sold by the Def Jam soundtrack to "Rush Hour," which slid four notches to No. 9.
Backstreet drop
Jive Records act the Backstreet Boys dropped a notch to No. 10 with more than 69,000 copies of their eponymous disc moving off shelves.
Save for debuts, the 1,000 unit uptick registered by the Boys' disc was the only sales increase among the top 10 discs from the previous chart.
TV spots and print ads advancing the homevideo bow of "Hope Floats" helped the pic's Capitol Records soundtrack to its second double-digit chart rise in as many weeks.
The disc, which leapt 39 slots on last week's chart and rose 13 rungs this week to No. 14, went home with more than 61,000 fans -- a 20,000 unit sales boost over last week.
