Having written, produced and twiddled with chart-topping albums and singles for numerous artists, the Neptunes -- Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo -- finally hit Number One with their own album, The Neptunes Present . . . Clones, which sold 249,000 copies, according to SoundScan. The set, which features Neptunes-recorded songs by Ludacris and Ol' Dirty Bastard, as well as cuts by Williams, easily unseated last week's chart-topper, Alan Jackson's Greatest Hits Vol. 2, which sold 158,000 copies at Number Two.

Sales are still low for the summer, but this week's chart features a full-fledged invasion of new releases. Bow Wow sold 120,000 copies of Unleashed at Number Three. Georgia rapper T.I., whose 2001 debut enjoyed some of the Neptunes' Midas touch, broke in at Number Four with his second album, Trap Muzik, with sales of 109,000. Roc-a-Fella Diplomat Juelz Santana and Jessica Simpson also broke into the top Ten at Number Eight and Ten, respectively, with sales of 74,000 for Santana's From Me to U and 64,000 for Simpson's In This Skin.

And there was more: Rancid's Indestructible jumped in at Number Fifteen with sales of 51,000, and solid debuts were also posted by Sara Evans' Restless (Number Twenty, 44,000 copies sold), Neil Young's Greendale (Number Twenty-two, 42,000), Amy Grant's Simple Things (41,000), Dierks Bentley's self-titled debut (Number Twenty-six, 39,000) and Alien Ant Farm's truANT (Number Forty-two, 27,000).

A handful of chart vets also fared well. The DVD release of Chicago sent viewers scurrying over to the music section of their local retailer for the soundtrack. The album climbed to Number Six from Number Ninety-nine last week with a sales spike from 12,000 to 75,000. Shania Twain's Up! also enjoyed a 20,000 unit boost to 47,000 as it moved from Number Thirty-four to Number Nineteen.

Overall sales in the Top 200 were significantly stronger than last week, 4.2 million from last week's 3.6 million. And with the MTV Video Music Awards tomorrow night, a three-day weekend and anticipated new releases by Mary J. Blige and Nappy Roots, next week's chart might provide a second week of sales growth in a row.

This week's Top Ten: the Neptunes' The Neptunes Present . . . Clones; an Jackson's Greatest Hits Vol. 2; Bow Wow's Unleashed; T.I.'s Trap Muzik; the Bad Boys II soundtrack; the Chicago soundtrack; Evanescence's Fallen; Juelz Santana's From Me to U; Beyonce's Dangerously in Love; Jessica Simpson's In This Skin.

ANDREW DANSBY
(August 27, 2003)