Millennium Madness Continues for Backstreet Boys Fans

Second-week sales for the Backstreet Boys' Millennium may have plunged by forty-five percent, but when you sell more than a million copies the first week out, looking over your shoulder is not a big concern. Millennium remains the nation's best-selling album for the week ending May 30, according to SoundScan. The record-breaking release, which moved more copies in its debut week than any other album in the SoundScan era, sold 621,000 copies.

Former soap star Ricky Martin is still riding the wave of Latin love, maintaining his seat at No. 2 and selling a superstar-status 400,000 copies last week. Meanwhile, BSB label-mate Britney Spears further proved her mettle by maintaining her No. 3 position from last week (that after twenty weeks on the chart).

And what's up with the suddenly sizzling sounds of Detroit? Hometown gruesome rappers Insane Clown Posse, who manage to even out-gore local nemesis Eminem, debuted at an eye-popping No. 4 with The Amazing Jeckel Brothers. That's easily the act's highest chart-showing to date. Meanwhile, cracking the Top Ten for the first time was Detroit rock/rapper Kid Rock with his hot-selling Devil Without a Cause.

Who else was making their accountants happy last week? British-born, eye-patch-wearing rapper Slick Rick finally followed up his '95 release Behind Bars with The Art of Storytelling, which came in at No. 8. The Phil Collins-heavy soundtrack to Disney's new animated movie Tarzan climbed to No. 20 its second week in stores, and former New Kid on the Block Jordan Knight's self-titled debut landed at No. 29.

From the top it was Millennium, followed by Ricky Martin; Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time (154,000); The Amazing Jeckel Brothers (141,000); TLC's Fan Mail (124,000); Shania Twain's Come On Over (116,000); the soundtrack to Star Wars -- Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (106,000); The Art of Storytelling (98,000); Devil Without a Cause (93,000); and Ruff Ryders' Ryde or Die Vol. I (91,000).

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

More Song Stories entries »

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