Eminem Bounces Britney From Top Spot

Apparently, nobody told Mr. Marshall Mathers (a.k.a. Slim Shady, a.k.a. Eminem), that the No. 1 slot on the nation's album charts is the private property of Jive Records and its stable of teen bubblegum acts. The rapper not only kicked Britney Spears off her throne but made a mockery of her first week sales record for a solo artist, trouncing her 1.3 million figure by moving an astounding 1,760,049 copies of his second album, The Marshall Mathers LP.

Though Eminem's debut sales still fall shy of the 2.4 million record set by 'N Sync ten weeks ago, The Marshall Mathers LP sold more than twice as many copies in its first week than the previous rap record holder, Snoop Dogg's 1993 Doggystyle (800,000 copies).

To her credit, Spears still made a strong showing, with her Oops!...I Did It Again slipping to No. 2 but still selling 612,420 copies. That was enough to hold the week's other hot shot debut, Mad Season by Matchbox Twenty, at bay at No. 3 with sales of 364,617. That was followed not by 'N Sync, but rather the debut from A Perfect Circle (featuring Maynard from Tool). Fueled no doubt by the exposure of opening for Nine Inch Nails, Maynard and Co.'s Mer de Noms debuted at No. 4 with sales of 188,034. Multi-platinum-selling solo artist (and Eagle) Don Henley returned to the Top 10 after a decade absence with Inside Job, which sold 114,062 copies and debuted at No. 7.

Elsewhere on the charts, last week's No. 2 debut, Pearl Jam's Binarual, fell to No. 12 with sales of 89,098 copies. Lee Ann Womack's I Hope You Dance debuted at No. 17 (No. 1 on the country chart) with sales of 75,779, and the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl (composed of members of Tony! Toni! Tone!, A Tribe Called Quest and En Vogue), came in at No. 26 with sales of 58,920. "Family values," meanwhile, aren't quite what they used to be, as Family Values Tour 1999, featuring tracks by Limp Bizkit, Korn and Method Man/Redman, entered at No. 32 (44,537). Other debuts include Gloria Estefan's Alma Caribbean Soul (No. 50, 32,077); En Vogue's Masterpiece Theater (No. 67, 20,880), Dynamite Hack's Superfast (No. 84, 17,643) and XTC's Wasp Star (Apple Venus Vol. II) (No. 108, 12,718).

Next week, look for a Top 10 entry from Kid Rock with his "early years" anthology The History of Rock. Most eyes, however, will likely still be on Eminem to see if he can overcome the traditional second-week slide for rap albums.

From the top, it was: Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP (1,760,049 copies sold); Britney Spears' Oops!...I Did it Again (612,420); Matchbox Twenty's Mad Season by Matchbox Twenty (364,617); A Perfect Circle's Mer De Noms (188,034); 'N Sync's No Strings Attached (169,784); Music From and Inspired by Mission: Impossible 2 (135,439); Don Henley's Inside Job (114,062); Creed's Human Clay (107,210); Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits (105,502); and Big Tymers' I Got That Work (100,767).

RICHARD SKANSE
(May 31, 2000)