Fans of Big L paid their respects to the late Harlem rapper last week by snapping up 72,549 copies of his posthumous album, The Big Picture, enough to make it the highest charting debut -- No. 13 -- on this week's SoundScan album chart. The Big Picture is Big L's second album and the first solo release following his shooting death on Feb. 15, 1999, though he was featured on the D.I.T.C. (Diggin' in the Crates) album Worldwide earlier this year.

The week's second highest debut belongs to country diva Jo Dee Messina, whose Burn scanned 61,151 copies its first week in stores to crack the Top Twenty at No. 19 (and knock the Dixie Chicks' Fly off the top of the country chart).

As for the Top 10, it was dTja vu all over again, with the various artists hits compilation, Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 4 selling another 239,519 copies to top the chart for its third straight week. Britney Spears holds onto the No. 2 spot with Oops! . . . I Did It Again, though Nelly's Country Grammar trails at No. 3 after selling just forty-eight fewer copies. Eminem and 'N Sync round out the Top 5, while Creed's Human Clay jumped ahead of Papa Roach to claim the No. 6 spot. Meanwhile, Sting's forty-five-week-old Brand New Day finally makes it to No. 10, up three spots from last week.

Other debuts in the Top 100 this week include the LeAnn Rimes-bolstered soundtrack to Coyote Ugly (No. 61), the Brian Setzer Orchestra's Vavoom (No. 62) and Rancid's Rancid (No. 68).

This week's Top 10 is Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 4 (239,519 copies sold); Britney Spears' Oops! . . . I Did It Again (237,485); Nelly's Country Grammar (237,437); Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (218,117); 'N Sync's No Strings Attached (164,569); Creed's Human Clay (138,632); Papa Roach's Infest (132,980); 3 Doors Down's Better Life (116,545); soundtrack to Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (101,985); and Sting's Brand New Day (75,561).

RICHARD SKANSE
(August 10, 2000)