Back and forth they go. Like two heavyweight champs, the Backstreet Boys and Limp Bizkit continue to battle for the top spot on the nation's album chart. Over the last two months, the groups have seesawed back and forth between No. 1 and No. 2. This week, it's the Backstreet Boys who recapture No. 1. The group's Millennium sold 233,000 copies for the week ending Aug. 8, according to SoundScan. Limp Bizkit's Significant Other came up just 13,000 copies short. Over those past seven weeks, BSB have been No. 1 three times, Limp Bizkit four.

The week's big debut belongs to MC Memphis Bleek. A follower of fellow New York rapper Jay-Z, Bleek's Coming of Age came in at No. 7. After debuting big last week, the Eighties-friendly soundtrack to Runaway Bride (Eric Clapton, U2, Billy Joel, Hall & Oates) jumped into the top ten, all the way up to No. 4.

Making room for the new top ten entries were the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication, which dropped one spot to No. 11, while Hot Boys' Guerilla Warfare fell from No. 5 to No. 12. Santana, whose self-titled debut album was released thirty years ago, continues to score well with their latest, Supernatural. Eight weeks after its release, the album, featuring the rock radio hit "Smooth" with Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, climbed to No. 18. Notable debuts for the week include Forget About It, by bluegrass/pop singer Alison Krauss (No. 60), the Kiss-inspired soundtrack to Detroit Rock City (No. 68), and Master P rapper Lil Italy's On Top of Da World (No. 99).

From the top, it was Millennium, followed by Significant Other (selling 220,000 copies); Ricky Martin's Ricky Martin (144,000); the soundtrack to Runaway Bride (139000); Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time (138,000); Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 2 (130,000); Kid Rock's Devil Without a Cause (110,000); Smash Mouth's Astro Lounge (103,000); and Destiny's Child's Writing's on the Wall (100,000).

ERIC BOEHLERT
(August 11, 1999)