High 5 for Brooks

'Live' tops album list again in strong week

By ADAM SANDLER

Garth Brooks' "Double Live" was the bestselling album in the U.S. for the fifth consecutive week and led a group of discs that boasted significant sales boosts from the previous week, according to sales data released Wednesday.

Brooks' Capitol Nashville disc nabbed a nearly 100,000-unit ascension for the period ended Dec. 20, with more than 548,000 units going home with consumers.

The impressive sales of the two-disc set, which crossed the 3 million-unit mark in just over five weeks of release, was indicative of the strength of the entire chart, which saw each of the Top-200 discs -- save for six discs -- log hefty sales increases.

Thanks largely to TV, 'N-Sync's eponymous RCA Records disc nabbed a one-slot boost to No. 2 on sales of more than 535,000 during the survey period.

The ensemble's numerous TV stops helped the disc post a whopping 156,000-unit increase over the previous week. The appearances also helped its holiday offering "Home for Christmas" post a 44,000-unit gain (No. 10) to top the 1 million-unit mark in just its sixth week of release.

At No. 3 was Celine Dion's "These Are Special Times," her 550/Epic Records holiday music opus that continues to post substantial weekly sales gains.

Nabbing a nearly 50,000-unit uptick, the disc saw weekly sales action of more than 462,000 copies and topped the 2.1 million-unit mark in its seventh week of release.

Jewel's Atlantic Records disc "Spirit" held steady at No. 4 for the fourth consecutive week, on sales of nearly 434,000, and held off a challenge for the post from Jive Records act Mystikal's "Ghetto Fabulous."

The disc bowed at No. 5 on sales north of 386,000 and bested by 38,000 units the No. 6 disc, the self-titled album from labelmate Backstreet Boys. Jive joined RCA and Columbia with two offerings in the Top 10.

Mariah Carey, who's been on a promotional spree previously unseen with the release of her earlier albums, saw the effort pay off as her Columbia disc "#1's" posted an impressive 100,000-copy boost to log sales near 329,000.

Carey bested the 290,000-unit tally logged by Shania Twain's Mercury disc "Come on Over," which held the No. 8 spot for the second consecutive week and posted a 79,000-unit uptick from the previous chart.

At No. 9 for the second week was "Americana" by Columbia Records' Offspring, which posted a 91,000-unit increase over the previous chart and is closing in on the 1 million unit plateau in just its fifth week of release.

The bow of the DreamWorks film "Prince of Egypt" helped its trio of soundtracks post significant gains.