It's a classic tale of old meets new unfolding in the top ten this week, withrejuvenated veteran Eric Clapton and sparkling newcomer Natalie Imbrugliaswooping in with hotshot performances for the week ending March 15, accordingSoundScan.

For Clapton, no stranger to the charts, Pilgrim's debut at No. 4(selling 168,258 copies) is his first top ten performance since 1994's Fromthe Cradle, which entered at No. 1. But the real surprise this week isactress turned pop star Imbruglia, who comes to these shores from Australia byway of London. Her Left of the Middle enters the fray at No. 10,selling 84,257 copies. Of course, it'll be a difficult climb to the top withthe slots one, two, and three holding steady with the indomitableTitanic soundtrack, Madonna's Ray of Light and Celine Dion'sLet's Talk About Love, respectively.

Top down it was: Titanic (448,000 copies); Ray of Light(225,000); Let's Talk About Love (199,000); Pilgrim; SavageGarden (116,000); K-Ci & Jo Jo's Love Always (106,000); theWedding Singer soundtrack (94,000); Backstreet Boys (90,000);Scarface's My Homies (88,000) and Left of the Middle.

Elsewhere in the top 200, Grammy winners and nominees lost a step or two aftertheir post-ceremony bumps, with artists like Bob Dylan, Sarah McLachlan, PaulaCole and Erykah Badu experiencing noticeable slides. Other noteworthy debutsincluded Killah Priest's Heavy Mental, which kicked in at No. 24, andthe Mavericks' Trampoline, with a strong first showing at No. 97. Waydown in the mid-hundreds, British techno duo Mono continued their measuredclimb through the ranks. Might want to keep an eye on that one ...

JOE ROSENTHAL