Staind Still on Top

With a weak crop of new releases unleashed last Tuesday, there's little surprise that Staind's Break the Cycle remained at the top of the charts with sales of 326,299 in its second week (according to SoundScan). The week two tally paired with the album's first week sales of 716,003 (the second highest first-week sales figure of the year) pushed the album over the 1 million mark by its second week, a feat only accomplished by the Dave Matthews Band's Everyday, Destiny's Child's Survivor and the hits compilation, Now That's What I Call Music! 6 so far this year.

But there was little other thunder on the charts this week. Last week's Top Ten did a little shuffling of places, but remained static with the exception of Tyrese's 2000 Watts, which fell from Number Ten to Number Twenty, leaving a slot for Train's Drops of Jupiter to slide in at Number Ten, its highest mark since its release ten weeks ago. The soundtrack to Moulin Rouge, already riding a high from the pre-release of the hit "Lady Marmalade" single (performed by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink), received another boost from the release of the film, pushing its sales up 35,000 copies from the previous week.

Newcomers were few, however. Country star Brad Paisley landed the highest debut of the week, putting his sophomore album, Part II, in at Number Thirty-one with sales just shy of 40,000. Other Top 100 debuts included the soundtrack to What's the Worst That Could Happen, featuring songs by Snoop Dogg and Queen Latifah (Number Thirty-eight), Mary Chapin Carpenter's first album of new material in five years, Time*Sex*Love (Number Fifty-two), and Air's 10,000 Hz Legend (Number Eighty-eight).

In addition to Break the Cycle's mark, the Dave Matthews Band's Everyday clicked past the 2 million sales mark and R. Kelly's TP-2.com passed the 3 million point.

Next week looks to shake up the Top Ten somewhat. The soundtrack to The Fast and the Furious boasts a lineup including Limp Bizkit, Ja Rule and R. Kelly, while Radiohead will try to make it two Number One debuts in a row, though Kid A's chart topping figure of 207,393 might have to be bested for Amnesiac to follow its sib to the top.

This week's Top Ten: Staind's Break the Cycle (326,299 copies sold); Destiny's Child's Survivor (169,487); the Moulin Rouge soundtrack (133,670); Tool's Lateralus (120,010); Now That's What I Call Music! 6 (112,706); Missy Elliott's Miss E . . . So Addictive (107,214); Janet Jackson's All for You (97,690); Redman's Malpractice (90,356); Weezer's Weezer (73,407); and Train's Drops of Jupiter (71,407).

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  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
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  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
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  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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