Ouch. How else to sum up the non-event of Hanson's lackluster return to the charts? Anyone witnessing the line that wrapped a city block at the brothers' New York record signing appearance last week might have thought they'd be a shoe-in for a No. 1 debut with This Time Around, their first new studio album since 1997's blockbuster Middle of Nowhere. But they didn't even come close. According to the SoundScan report for the week ending May 14, This Time Around sold only 64,210 copies its first week in stores, debuting just inside the Top 20 at No. 19. Talk about growing pains.

That leaves 'N Sync's No Strings Attached perched at No. 1 for the eighth straight week, with sales of 188,156 copies, bringing their year-to-date sales total to a whopping 5,467,734 copies. Last week's No. 2 entry, Goodfellas by Master P's No Limit 504 Boyz, fell to No. 8, making room for Limp Bizkit, Metallica, Foo Fighters and the rest of the hard rock team powering the soundtrack to Mission: Impossible 2.

Other noteworthy moves in the Top 10 included Santana's Supernatural, jumping from No. 6 to No. 3. The single "Maria Maria," which teams the guitarist with the Product G&B and Wyclef Jean, has topped Billboard's Top 100 chart for seven weeks. The second hottest single in the country, Faith Hill's "Breathe," has lifted the album of the same name back up to No. 10 (from No. 16 the previous week), right behind the Dixie Chicks' Fly, which climbed from No. 14 to No. 9. Fly has now logged twenty-six weeks at the top of Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.

Meanwhile, Hanson wasn't the only teen act denied access to the Top 10 club last week. I Wanna Be With You, Mandy Moore's follow-up to last year's So Real, came in at No. 21 with sales of 59,891 copies. The only other debut in the Top 50 belonged to Avant. The R&B singer's MCA/Magic Johnson Records debut My Thoughts, which features the single "Separated," came in at No. 49 with sales of 28,390.

From the top it was 'N Sync's No Strings Attached (188,156 copies sold); Music From and Inspired by Mission: Impossible 2 (130,357); Santana's Supernatural (123,942); Sisqo's Unleash the Dragon (117,232); Joe's My Name is Joe (111,432); Creed's Human Clay (101,381); Toni Braxton's Heat (10,249); 504 Boyz' Goodfellas (90,424); Dixie Chicks' Fly (80,822); and Faith Hill's Breathe (80,205).

RICHARD SKANSE
(May 18, 2000)