“Miseducation” Back on Top
Let’s hope Marilyn Manson took some snapshots and bought some
souvenirs last week at the top of the charts, because his reign was
a short one. After selling a solid 223,000 copies of Mechanical
Animals for a first place showing on Sept. 23, the
antichrist-turned-glam-albino has slipped to No. 5 on the charts
with a second sales week total of 98,200 units, according to
SoundScan. Passing him in the opposite direction on his slide down
was Lauryn Hill, who moved up from No. 2 to reclaim her No. 1 spot
from two weeks ago, having sold 168,000 copies of The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Manson, apparently, was just
keeping her throne warm.
There was a lot of moving and shuffling about throughout the rest
of the Top 10 as well. Orlando’s junior varsity Backstreet Boys
type-outfit, ‘N Sync, hopped from No. 5 to No. 2, while Kiss,
Christian rappers DC Talk and Keith Sweat all made strong debuts
(No. 3, 4 and 6, respectively). Shania Twain peeks her head back in
at No. 10, while the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Dirty Boogie
— this year’s wild-card, little-engine-that-could — slips
anti-climatically back to No. 14 after finally cracking the Top 10
last week after fourteen weeks on the chart. Enthusiasm for Hootie
and the Blowfish’s Musical Chairs, meanwhile, deflated
significantly, with last week’s No. 4 album down to No. 12. Save
all your tears for Courtney Love and Hole, though — their much
ballyhooed Celebrity Skin has tumbled from No. 10 to a
far-flung No. 22 just three weeks after its release. Smells like
teen shrugging.
Other debuts this week include Flipmode Squad’s Imperial
Album (No. 15), the Goo Goo Dolls’ Dizzy Up the Girl
(No. 17), Chris Isaak’s Speak of the Devil (No. 41), Lyle
Lovett’s Step Inside This House (No. 55) and Jerry
Seinfeld’s I’m Tellin You for the Last Time (No. 59.) Also
just cracking the Top 100 are the Chemical Brothers, whose
Brothers Gonna Work it Out bows at No. 95.
SoundScan’s sales tallies for the Top 10 are: Miseducation of
Lauryn Hill (168,000); N-Sync (113,000); Kiss’
Psycho Circus (110,000); DC Talk’s Supernatural (106,000);
Mechanical Animals (98,000); Keith Sweat’s Still in
the Game (97,000); Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty
(92,000); sound track to Rush Hour (90,000); Barenaked
Ladies’ Stunt (87,000); and Twain’s Come On Over
(85,000).