The boy band's No Strings Attached held the number one position against a formidable new release, the star-studded soundtrack to Mission: Impossible 2, which features such marquee names as Metallica, Limp Bizkit and the Foo Fighters. For the week ended May 14, No Strings Attached sold 188,000 copies to M:I-2's 130,000. It's the eighth straight week JC, Justin, Joey, Lance and Chris have ruled the retail racks.
But the 'N Sync-ers better enjoy their reign while they can. Next week they'll likely be dethroned by Britney Spears' should-be blockbuster Oops!...I Did It Again, which is reportedly outselling everything at the record stores since its release Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Santana's Supernatural kept chugging along, climbing to number 3 with 124,000 units sold. At number four was Sisqó's Unleash the Dragon, which unleashed another 117,000 copies on the public, followed by Joe, who moved 111,000 units of My Name Is Joe.
Toni Braxton's The Heat slipped another couple spots to number seven, selling 101,000 copies according to industry sources. The hip-hop crew 504 Boyz also dropped this week, plummeting from number two to number eight as Goodfellas sold 90,000.
The Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill, two of the biggest winners at the May 3 Academy of Country Music Awards, felt the effects this week. The Chicks, fresh off wins for album and group of the year, flew up five spots to number nine as Fly sold 80,000 copies. Hill, named top female vocalist, jumped six spots to number 10 as Breathe, also moved about 80,000 copies.
Proving how fickle teen fans can be, Hanson's second studio album, This Time Around, got MMMBopped, barely squeaking into the top 20. The follow-up to the sibs' mulitplatinum breakthrough Middle of Nowhere had a surprisingly poor debut selling only 64,000 copies for the number 19 spot. Middle of Nowhere, a groundbreaking forerunner to today's teen music movement, bowed at number nine on the charts back in May 1997. ('N Sync, are you paying attention?)
As for other new releases, Mandy Moore's I Wanna Be with You, a new version of her debut album So Real, entered the charts at number 21 with nearly 60,000 copies sold; R&B act Avant's My Thoughts moved 28,000 copies at number 49; rapper Miracle's self-titled album sold 25,000 for number 56; and Wu-Tang man Killah Priest's sophomore solo album, A View From Masada (Masada referring to both the site of a mass suicide in 1st century Israel and an acronym for Man Analyzing Situations and Drama Artistically), entered the charts at number 73 with 20,000 copies.
Meanwhile, Bad Religion's umpteenth release, The New America, made a number 88 bow with 16,000 copies. On the flip side, the Christian group Point of Grace captured the number 106 spot with 14,000 copies of Rarities and Remixes. One spot below was the Judds' Reunion Live with 13,000 in sales. The two-disc set is taken from the New Year's Eve show in Phoenix that marked the first public performance by Naomi and Wynonna Judd in eight years. Naomi's other daughter, Ashley, announced the show.
The Jayhawks, instrumental in the current alternative country trend, surfaced at 129 as Smile sold 11,000 copies. And Jeff Buckley also made the charts with his second posthumous release. The album, Mystery White Boy, a live collection of songs from his 1994-1996 tours, including material from his unreleased second album, took the number 133 spot with sales of 10,000.