Santana's Supernatural Chart Power

Now that Santana have finally made it back to No. 1, the band are in no hurry to leave. For the second week in a row Supernatural is the country's best-selling album, with 184,000 copies sold for the week ending Oct. 24, according to SoundScan. At a time when superstar acts often debut at No. 1 and then descend, Supernatural's sales, for the eighth time in a row, increased over the previous week.

That said, Santana also benefited from a relatively quiet release schedule, with no new albums debuting inside the top twenty. The week's highest newcomers were the Eurythmics, whose comeback album, Peace, debuted at No. 25. At No. 28 was 98 Degrees' latest, This Christmas. (Look for sales on that holiday album to swell in coming and weeks and months.) And the soundtrack to troubled Woodstock '99 hit at No. 32.

November will bring a deluge of superstar releases to record stores, including the latest from Mariah Carey, Korn, Counting Crows, Foo Fighters, Jewel, Will Smith and Celine Dion. But already this fall has seen a number of marquee acts ship out albums, some with more success than others. Among those facing soft sales and in danger of getting trampled in coming weeks are Warren G. (No. 29), Nine Inch Nails (No. 43), Tori Amos (No. 75), Brooks & Dunn (No. 88), David Bowie (No. 113), and, perhaps the season's biggest disappointment, Paula Cole (No. 164).

Two massively hyped records that tanked early but may be leveling off are Puff Daddy's Forever (No. 23), and Garth Brooks ...In the Life of Chris Gaines (No. 16). Whether or not those two will be able to weather the coming superstar storm will determine their ultimate success or failure. (Both would love to still be in the top 20 come year's end.)

From the top, it was Santana's Supernatural, followed by the Backstreet Boys' Millennium (selling 140,000); Creed's Human Clay (137,000), Lou Bega's Little Bit of Mambo (136,000); Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time (130,000); Limp Bizkit's Significant Other (110,000); Kid Rock's Devil Without a Cause (101,000); Christina Aguilera's Christina Aguilera (97,000); Juvenile's 400 Degreez (80,000); and Brian McKnight's Back at One.

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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