Follow the Leader: Korn on Top
Thanks to Huntington, Calif.’s Korn, rock makes a comeback on the
sales chart this week as the band’s latest, Follow the
Leader, debuts at No. 1 for week ending August 23. Korn’s
thrash/funk album sold 268,000 copies, according to SoundScan.
The week’s only other top 50 debut belonged to shock rappers the
Insane Clown Posse and their two CD-set, Forgotten Freshness
Vols. 1 & 2, which came in at No. 46.
Chart watchers have to go all the way back to the week of May 10 to
find the last time a rock band had the country’s No. 1 album: the
Dave Matthews Band’s Before These Crowded Streets. Since
then, it’s been fourteen straight weeks of mostly rap (DMX, Master
P, Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys) and soundtracks (City of
Angels, Armageddon) holding down No. 1.
From the top it was Follow the Leader, followed by the
Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty (selling 167,000 copies); Snoop
Dogg’s Da Game is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told (156,000);
the soundtrack to Armageddon (154,000); ‘N Sync
(124,000); the Barenaked Ladies’ Stunt (123,000); the
soundtrack to Dr. Dolittle (102,000); the soundtrack to
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (99,000); and the
soundtrack to City of Angels (83,000).
Three albums that enjoyed the week’s biggest sales jumps had TV
exposure to thank. ‘N Sync’s primetime performance on last week’s
Miss Teen USA helped boost the pop act to career-high No.
5. Following country singer Shania Twain’s appearance on
Today, her album moved from No. 17 to No. 11. And
Madonna’s Ray of Light climbed from No. 56 to No. 31
thanks to last week’s Madonnathon coverage on VH1, which
featured a rockumentary on the singer.