Smith Returns To Top 10, Hall Of Famers Enter Charts

Tweet

The City of Angels soundtrack bounces back this week to become the No. 1 album in the country for the second time.

The soundtrack, featuring Goo Goo Dolls and Alanis Morissette, sold 169,000 copies for the week ending June 21, according to SoundScan. And what a sleepy sales week it was, with just five hits selling more than 100,000 copies and only one new entry debuting in the top 40, the soundtrack to Hav Plenty.

The man making the most noise on the chart is Will Smith. Six months after the release of his Big Willie Style, the album charges back into the Top 10, moving from No. 21 to No. 9 in just two weeks time. Smith can most likely thank Father's Day shoppers for his latest sales surge. That's because the singer's new single, "Just the Two Of Us," and particularly its accompanying video, has a strong father/son theme which meant the record made for a perfect Father's Day gift last weekend.

Elsewhere, three Hall of Fame rock vets made debuts this week, but not near the top. Ringo Starr's Vertical Man came in at No. 61, Van Morrison's Philosopher's Stone came in at No. 87 and Brian Wilson's Imagination came in at No. 88.

From the top it was City of Angels, followed by Brandy's Never Say Never (selling 153,000 copies); Master P's Da Last Don (152,000); the soundtrack to Hope Floats (115,000); the soundtrack to Godzilla (109,000); Garth Brooks' Limited Series (96,000); the Backstreet Boys' self-titled record (94,000); Shania Twain's Come On Over (92,000); Big Willie Style (82,000); and the Smashing Pumpkins' Adore (72,000).

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'This Is the End' Brings the Goods
• 
  TV The Women of 'Mad Men'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter