OutKast Outsells 'Em All

OutKast is finally in at number one.

With their last three albums peaking at number two, the Atlanta-based rap duo scored the chart-topper in a week that saw seven Top 10 debuts, including new releases by Dave Matthews, Limp Bizkit and R. Kelly, as well as Eminem's Willy Wonka gambit.

OutKast took top honors with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a two-disc release that also doubles as joint solo efforts by Big Boi and Andre 3000. For the week ended September 28, 2003, Speakerboxxx sold nearly 510,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While that made for OutKast's first number one, it wasn't the duo's best sales week--Skankonia sold an even more impressive 526,000 first-week copies in late 2000, but was edged by Jay-Z's Dynasty: Roc La Familia 2000.

Offering the only serious threat to OutKast supremacy, Dave Matthews bowed in second, with his first album sans Band, Some Devil, moving 469,000 copies. For jam-band freaks, Matthews' solo disc features Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio on several tracks. Matthews' previous band effort, Busted Stuff, topped the charts last year with a 622,000-copy first week.

For Limp Bizkit, it appears that Wes may have been more. Results May Vary, the group's first release without departed guitarist Wes Borland, sold 325,000 copies to open at number three. Though solid numbers for most bands, Bizkit's last release, 2000's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, sold just over 1 million copies in week one, a feat only five other acts have ever accomplished.

Legally entangled R&B crooner R. Kelly followed at four with his 24-song anthology, The R in R&B Collection: Vol. 1. The new disc--which features such hits as "Bump n' Grind," "Sex Me," and "Ignition (remix)"--sold north of 250,000. The debut comes the same week news surfaces that Kelly and Michael Jackson are considering a collaboration on Jacko's next album.

Obie Trice, the latest protégé of rap megastar Eminem, landed at five with his debut album, Cheers. In a much-hyped promotion, three random discs sent out in the first pressing include Willy Wonka-inspired gold tickets that win fans a free trip to the studio to watch Eminem record for his own new album. The ploy helped to sell nearly 226,000 copies.

Canadian rockers Nickelback debuted at six with The Long Road, the follow-up to the 2001 multiplatinum smash Silver Side Up. St. Lunatics member and Nelly cohort Murphy Lee followed at eight with Murphy's Law.

Meanwhile, the only three Top 10 holdovers--DMX's Grand Champ at seven, John Mayer's Heavier Things at nine, and Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis at 10--also happen to be the album chart's last three number ones.

Just missing was Rob Zombie, whose Greatest Hits: Past, Present, & Future entered at 11. The disc features such hard-rocking hits as "Thunder Kiss '65," "More Human Than Human" and "Dragula," in addition to 10 Zombie-directed videos on a bonus DVD. Also making a Top 20 bid was Fuel's Natural Selection, which opened at 15 with nearly 71,000 copies--a number that usually would have likely cracked the Top 10 in a less competitive week.

Further down the charts, Anthony Hamilton's Comin' From Where I'm From debuted at 33, Totally County V3 opened at 37, Best of Pantera--Far Beyond the Great Southern landed at 38, Gloria Estefan's Unwrapped checked in at 39, and Baby Bash's The Smokin' Nephew premiered at 48.

Elsewhere, two music vets opened back-to-back as Elvis Costello's North debuted at 57 and Emmylou Harris' Stumble Into Grace charted at 58. Rufus Wainwright's Want One and Vertical Horizon's Go followed at 60 and 61, respectively.

Other noteworthy new releases included Atmosphere's Seven's Travels at 83, Meat Loaf's Couldn't Have Said It Better at 85, String Cheese Incident's Untying the Not at 157 and the Holes soundtrack at 161.

For punk rockers Good Charlotte, this week represents the one-year chart anniversary of The Young and the Hopeless. The album currently sits at number 45, which is the third-highest position for an album one year or older (Coldplay and Norah Jones sit higher).

To recap, the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday were as follows:

1. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast
2. Some Devil, Dave Matthews
3. Results May Vary, Limp Bizkit
4. The R in R&B Collection: Vol. 1, R. Kelly
5. Cheers, Obie Trice
6. The Long Road, Nickelback
7. Grand Champ, DMX
8. Murphy's Law, Murphy Lee
9. Heavier Things, John Mayer
10. Metamorphosis, Hilary Duff