Stick the likes of DMX, Juvenile, Lox, Jermaine Dupri, Big Pun and more on one album, and it's a forgone conclusion that the puppy's gonna debut at No. 1. Which, of course, is exactly where the Ruff Ryders' collection Ryde or Die Vol. 1 sits this week after moving 283,000 copies, according to SoundScan. Considering that the compilation is just the first release by the Interscope-distributed Ruff Ryder Records, the label's off to a super-smooth start.

The ride wasn't so easy for others in the Top Ten. TLC, Nas and Shania Twain all slipped down a notch, though Twain's Come On Over (No. 4) actually sold more copies this week than it did last week. Britney Spears also moved more albums than last week, but holds tight at No. 5. Dirty white boy Eminem tumbles down four notches to No. 10, but he should count his blessings that he's not fellow rapper B.G., who debuted last week at No. 9 and this week finds himself in an entirely different zip code at No. 24.

The highest debut this week was the soundtrack to TV's Dawson's Creek, featuring Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me" and Shawn Mullins' "Shimmer," coming in at No. 7. Just shy of the Top Ten is Bury the Hatchet, album number four from Ireland's Cranberries. Other notable debuts are Naughty By Nature's 19 Naughty Nine: Nature's Fury (No. 22); Eric Benet's Day in the Life; Tom Waits' Mule Variations and the Ben Folds Five's Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (No. 35).

From the top, it was Ruff Ryders' Ryde or Die Vol. 1; TLC's Fanmail (selling 174,000 copies); Nas' I Am (130,000); Shania Twain's Come On Over (120,000); Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time (105,000); Cher's Believe (91,000); the Dawson's Creek soundtrack (89,000); Offspring's Americana (86,000); Andrea Bocelli's Sogno (78,000); and Eminem's The Slim Shady LP (73,000).

RICHARD SKANSE
(May 5, 1999)