J.Lo Dethrones Beatles
Jennifer Lopez pulled off a media exacta over the past week as her new film, The Wedding Planner, topped the U.S. box office grosses in its first three days of release, while copies of her sophomore album, J.Lo, rung up first week sales of 272,262 copies, a somewhat modest arrival given the publicity machinery behind the album, yet enough to land it atop the SoundScan’s chart.
Lopez’s ascendance ended the Beatles‘ eight-week stint on top with 1, as well as spoiling Shaggy’s run at the No. 1 slot with his Hotshot. Shaggy’s album has been enjoying a gradual rise, while other Top Ten albums have fizzled; Hotshot sold 214,180 copies last week, a 10,000 copy increase from the previous one. Further, the album only trailed J.Lo‘s opening week splash by approximately 60,000 copies, no small feat for an album that has been on shelves for nearly six months.
While 1 fell to the No. 4 slot and the Save the Last Dance soundtrack remained static at No. 3, the Top Ten received an infusion of some new blood in addition to its new chart-topper, though again, sales numbers were hardly on pace with the year-end boom. Making the Band‘s O-Town rode their eponymous debut to the No. 5 slot with sales of 144,529, an impressive debut for your average pop release, but a mere whimper when stacked against the first-week numbers of boy-band products like ‘N Sync’s No Strings Attached (2.4 million copies sold), the Backstreet Boys’ Black and Blue (1.6 million) and even 98 Degrees’ Revelation (270,000). Also finding a way into the Top Ten was Puff Daddy’s all-female quartet, Dream, who landed at No. 6 with It Was All a Dream.
Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 5, Dido’s No Angel and Creed’s Human Clay all slipped slightly, but still clung to Top Ten slots. Ja Rule’s Rule 3:36 crept back in at No. 10, while Lenny Kravitz’s Greatest Hits, Sade’s Lovers Rock, Limp Bizkit’s Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water and OutKast’s Stankonia fell to make way for the newcomers.
The semi-Southern Rock compilation Goin’ South, which features classic rock staples from the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others, came in at No. 28, the only other debut in the Top 100.
As for next week, don’t look for too much shuffling, as Vitamin C’s More leads a field of new releases void of serious contenders for the top slots.
This week’s Top 10: Jennifer Lopez’s J.Lo (272,262 copies sold); Shaggy’s Hotshot (214,180); Save the Last Dance soundtrack (184,866); The Beatles’ 1 (173,414); O-Town’s O-Town (144,529); Dream’s It Was All a Dream (105,274); Now That’s What I Call Music! 5 (88,890); Creed’s Human Clay (81,568); Dido’s No Angel (81,293); Ja Rule’s Rule 3:36 (80,412).