THE CHARTS

‘N DOMITABLE

If you can’t beat your own record, it ain’t bad to be your own runner-up. ‘N Sync’s Celebrity sold 1.88 million copies its first week out, entering the books as the second-best opening week figure in SoundScan’s history. The only album that’s ever done better, of course, is their previous effort, No Strings Attached, which sold 2.4 million upon entry last year. So many prognosticators lowered expectations for the album–including the lads themselves–that this figure came as a surprise to many, when it should have been predictable all along. The teen bust is a boom again! This week, anyway.

POP ALBUMS

LAST WEEK WEEKS ON CHART

1 — ‘N SYNC Celebrity, Jive 1 2 1 ALICIA KEYS Songs in A Minor, J 5 3 3 D12 Devil’s Night, Shady/Interscope 6 4 4 STAIND Break the Cycle, Flip/Elektra 10 5 2 AALIYAH Aaliyah, Blackground/Virgin 2 6 7 DESTINY’S CHILD Survivor, Columbia 13 7 6 P. DIDDY… The Saga Continues…, Bad Boy/Arista 3 8 9 LINKIN PARK Hybrid Theory, Warner Bros. 40 9 8 JAGGED EDGE Jagged Little Thrill, So So Def/Columbia 5 10 — VARIOUS ARTISTS Violator the Album V2.0, Loud 1 11 12 BLINK-182 Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, MCA 7 12 5 FOXY BROWN Broken Silence, Def Jam 2 13 — CAKE Comfort Eagle, Columbia 1 14 17 VARIOUS ARTISTS O Brother… soundtrack, Mercury Nashville 30 15 — NEIL DIAMOND Three Chord Opera, Columbia 1

C)2001 BPI COMMUNICATIONS INC./SOUNDSCAN INC. USED WITH PERMISSION FROM BILLBOARD, AUGUST 13, 2001.

IN STORES AUGUST 14

AKINYELE Anakonda: The Black Benny Ill (Koch) On his third album, the veteran Queens rapper again spits out the raunchiest raps north of Miami’s 2 Live Crew.

MICHELLE BRANCH The Spirit Room (Maverick) Unlike most of her pop contemporaries, this 17-year-old folk-lite singer writes all her songs. John Shanks (Melissa Etheridge, BBMak) produced the debut.

VARIOUS ARTISTS The Source Hip-Hop Awards Compilation 2001 (Def Jam) Nominated tunes from Outkast, Lil’ Kim, Eve, and Mystikal serve as a teaser for the (hopefully melee-free) Aug. 20 event.

K.D. LANG Live by Request (Warner Bros.) On a companion CD to the A&E series of the same name, the alt-country crooner revisits “Cryin’,” “Big-Boned Gal,” “Constant Craving,” and other faves.

IN THE STUDIO

NATE DOGG, formerly of Death Row Records, in L.A. recording his November debut for Elektra. ND has snagged such heavy-hitting guests as Ludacris, Lil’ Mo, Xzibit, Jermaine Dupri, and that other dogg, Snoop.

NO DOUBT, in L.A., Jamaica, and London collaborating, with producers William Orbit, Ric Ocasek, Dr. Dre, and others on the follow-up to 2000’s Return of Saturn. Expect dancehall-reggae, classic new wave, and R&B sounds on the 2002 release.

BRITNEY SPEARS, working with a bevy of producers on her rabidly anticipated Nov. 6 CD. Jive is mum on details, but Spears will reportedly do a hip-hopped, Rodney Jerkins-produced cover of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” and a duet with beau Justin Timberlake.