Limp Bizkit Rise to the Top
There’s nothing limp about the chart numbers racked up by hard
rockheroes Limp Bizkit. The Florida-bred band’s latest,
Significant Other,sold an amazing 635,000 copies for the
week ending June 27, accordingto SoundScan. That’s the third-best
debut of the year, behind theblockbuster numbers posted by the
Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin. Notbad for a hip-hop-loving
guitar band whose previous claim to commercialfame was the cover of
a George Michael song. The band’s first release,Three Dollar
Bill, Y’all, peaked at No. 22.
Clearly, Limp Bizkit’s success squashes the recurring notion that
rockis dead. Indeed, last week, Bizkit, along with Kid Rock and the
Red HotChili Peppers, all sold more than 100,000 copies, while
Smash Mouth andBlink 182 both posted healthy Top 20 numbers.
Two other newcomers arrived in Top Ten style. R&B crooners K-Ci
&JoJo’s It’s Real debuted at No. 8, while rap queen
Missy Elliott’s DaReal World came in at No. 10. Elliott’s
album sold 131,000 copies, arespectable if unspectacular amount. No
doubt execs at her label, Elektra,figured that for this time of
year that kind of tally would’ve earned hera top-five spot. During
normal times, yes. But not when the latest fromLimp Bizkit, BSB and
Martin sell a combined 1.1 million records in oneweek.
Elsewhere, the Chemical Brothers’ Surrender bowed at No.
32, whileWhitney Houston’s appearance last week on the Oprah
Winfrey Show helpedstop the sales skid of My Love Is Your
Love. The record rebounded from No. 87 to No. 63. And despite
critical acclaim, the latest from the Pretenders,Viva El
Amor, only managed a No. 158 debut. Doing considerably better
were Donna Summer’s VH1 Presents — Live & More
Encore! (No. 43), George Jones’ Cold Hard Truth (No.
53) and RZA’s Hits (No. 61).
And, hold the phone, Shania Twain’s eleven-times platinum Come
On Overactually fell out of the Top Ten last week. That’s just
the third timein six months that’s happened. For all of 1999 so
far, the album, originallyreleased in 1997, has dropped no lower
than No. 14. Ka-ching.
From the top, it was Limp Bizkit’s Significant Other,
followed by theBackstreet Boys’ Millennium (selling
274,000); Ricky Martin (227,000); the soundtrack to
Wild Wild West (180,000); the soundtrack to
Tarzan (175,000); Sarah McLachlan’s Mirrorball
(146,000); Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time
(141,000); K-Ci & JoJo’s It’s Real (140,000): the
soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
(138,000); and Missy Elliott’s Da Real World.