Shaggy's sleeper album Hotshot held the top slot on the pop charts for the the third straight week. The album, which quickly disappeared from the top 100 after its August debut, has slowly climbed its way back up eventually surpassing both the Beatles and Jennifer Lopez, the year's only other chart-toppers. For the week ended February 18, Hotshot sold about 294,000 copies, according to SoundScan.
And with Shaggy slated to perform his chart-topping "Wasn't Me" on Saturday Night Live expect even more sales next week.
Again, there was little change in the top 10 as the same-old acts continued their dominance. The Beatles' 1 held tight at number two and the soundtrack to Save the Last Dance at number three, selling 200,000 and 162,000 copies, respectively. Dido's No Angel continued its belated run up the charts, selling 131,000 copies for number four, as Jennifer Lopez's J.Lo dropped one spot to number five, selling 130,000 copies.
Continuing steady top 10 stays, Sade's Lovers Rock sold 118,000 copies for number six, Lenny Kravitz's Greatest Hits 113,000 copies for number seven and Ja Rule's Rule 3:36 102,000 copies for number eight.
Crazy Town's The Gift of Game, another sleeper album, climbed one spot to number nine. The L.A.-based rap-rock group sold 96,000 copies of its 1999 debut, powered by the hit single, "Butterfly."
Southern hip-hop guru Ludacris rounded out the top 10, selling 93,000 copies of Back for the First Time.
The week's highest debut was logged by the Miami-based rap crew Iconz, whose Street Money opened at number 64 with 28,000 copies. Firestarr, the first solo album from Onyx's Fredro Starr, sold 24,000 copies at number 76. The rap and R&B-driven soundtrack to Down to Earth moved 20,000 copies for a number 81 bow. While the actual Chris Rock film placed second to Hannibal at the weekend box office, its soundtrack did outsell Hans Zimmer's Hannibal score, which took a bite out of the charts at number 129.
Other notable debuts included Radio Disney Jams Vol. 3 at 109, Pavement vocalist Stephen Malkmus' self-titled debut at 124 and Bill and Gloria Gathier's What a Time! at 149.
And while Barbra Streisand's Timeless concert bombed on Fox on Valentine's Day, her album of the same name got a big bounce, re-entering the charts at number 130, jumping from 3,000 to 12,000 copies.
The big news next week will be whether the red-hot, but Grammy-less, Shaggy can hold off any of the big Grammy winners expecting the traditional post-awards boost.