In a slow week at record stores, TLC's Fanmail returns to the top as the country's best-selling album.| For the week ending April 25, the R&B trio sold 180,000 albums, according to SoundScan. It's been a month since the resilient Fanmail was last No. 1. In all, since the record's release back in February, Fanmail has spent five weeks at No. 1.

Last week's best-seller, Nas' I Am dropped to No. 2, while the amazing Shania Twain and her seventy-seven-week-old blockbuster, Come On Over, crept back up to No. 3. Even though the country/pop diva's album has been certified for sales of ten million, it has yet to reach No. 1 on the U.S. album sales chart.

Meanwhile, B.G., the street rapper from New Orleans' Cash Money Records, debuted at No. 9 with his Chopper City in the Ghetto, coming in at No. 9. In an indication of how underwhelming sales were for the week, B.G. was able to debut in the top ten despite selling just 76,000 copies. There have only been two other weeks this year where that feat would have been possible.

Two other new albums from rap acts sold relatively well. Case's Personal Conversation came in at No. 33, while The Syndicate, by Wu Syndicate, featuring Myalansky and Joe Mafia, came in at No. 61.

Kid Rock continued his ascent up the charts. The Detroit rock/rapper's Devil Without a Cause has shot to No. 26, up from No. 63 just two weeks ago. Meanwhile, modern rock radio darlings Lit saw their Place in the Sun climb from No. 94 to No. 73 in seven days.

From the top, it was Fanmail, followed by I Am (selling 153,000 copies), Come On Over (113,000); Cher's Believe (99,000); Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time (98,000); Eminem's Slim Shady (92,000); Offspring's Americana (84,000); the soundtrack to the Matrix (80,000); Chopper City in the Ghetto (76,000); and Andrea Bocelli's Sogno (75,000).

ERIC BOEHLERT(April 28, 1999)