Pumpkins Can’t Top The Master On The Charts
The Master has arrived. Master P, that is.
The New Orleans-based rapper/actor/screenwriter/director and
founder of red-hot No Limit Records, claims top
album honors for the week ending June 6 with Da Last Don.
The album debuted at No. 1, selling 495,000 copies, according to
SoundScan. (P’s straight-to-video flick by the same name should be
in stores soon.) That tally was more than enough to bounce the
City of Angels soundtrack from the top spot, to keep the
latest from the Smashing Pumpkins, Adore,
out of pole position, and strong enough to hold off the surging
Hope Floats soundtrack.
Other notable debuts for the week included rapper
Onyx at No. 10, Gloria Estefan at
No. 23, and the soundtrack to the upcoming X-Files movie
at No. 31. As for the battle of the cross-promoting country
superstars, Reba McEntire edged out Brooks
& Dunn (the three teamed up for a new single, which
appears on both their albums released this week.) McEntire’s record
came in at No. 8, while Brooks & Dunn entered at No. 11.
From the top it was Master P, followed by Adore
(selling 174,000 copies; by comparison the band’s Mellon Collie
and the Infinite Sadness debuted by selling 246,000 copies in
1995); the soundtrack to City of Angels (168,000); the
soundtrack to Godzilla (129,000); the soundtrack to
Hope Floats (116,000; the country-flavored record for the
Sandra Bullock/Harry Connick Jr. flick has jumped
from No 40 to No. 5 in just two weeks); DMX’s
It’s Dark & Hell Is Hot (97,000); Backstreet
Boys (96,000); McEntire’s If You See Him (93,000);
Garth Brooks’ Limited Series (90,000);
and Onyx’s Shut ‘Em Down.
It was a particularly strong week for Madonna’s
14-week-old Ray of Light, with sales up 20 percent over
last week. The reason? The singer’s recent appearance on the
Oprah Winfrey show sent viewers scurrying into record
stores.
Speaking of divas, at a time when even superstar records
gradually fade from view within a month or two, country crossover
star Shania Twain’s Come On Over, which
enjoyed yet another weekly jump in sales, has been hovering around
the Top 10 since its debut six months ago. Already this year, the
sultry singer has outsold new records by Madonna, the Spice
Girls, Pearl Jam, Janet Jackson and Eric
Clapton. Surging sales reflect the fact she’s made the
move from country to the mainstream without a hitch. Her latest
single, “You’re Still the One,” recently hit No. 2 on the pop
singles chart.