Strait Beats Blige in Album Sales

Wed., May. 7, 1997 6:30 PM PDT by Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn

Country crooners rode to new sales plateaus in the wake of the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 23. Best album honoree George Strait hit number one at the nation's music retail stores, while greenhorn LeAnn Rimes, a triple ACM winner, saw both her albums soar.

Female acts counted for the majority of the Top-10 action at retailers: Rimes, Mary J. Blige, the Spice Girls, the Indigo Girls, Jewel and Erykah Badu all had an impressive week.

Strait, one of country music's elder statesmen, showed the young'uns how it was done, reaching the coveted top slot with Carrying Your Love With Me. The disc sold a hefty 179,000, although off from its number-two debut the previous week when it moved 194,000 units, according to industry sources.

Usually, only the genre's phenomenons like Garth Brooks hit number one, but a high profile at the prize round-up helped Strait: He was not only a two-time ACM winner, but a host and performer on the show. Other ACM winners and/or performers that saw sales spike during the week following the timeslot-winning NBC awardcast included Brooks & Dunn, Trace Adkins, Deana Carter and Sawyer Brown.

Teen singer Rimes re-entered the Top 10 with "Blue," which was feted as song and single of the year. The album of the same name went to number nine with a sales leap of 20,000 units to 74,000 for the week ending May 4. Her sophomore effort, Unchained Melody roped in the No. 12 spot.

Strait knocked R&B warbler Mary J. Blige out of the pole position where she debuted last week with sales of 240,000. Share My World went slightly out of orbit with a steep drop to 153,000 units for the week.

The Spice Girls cooked up a well-seasoned dish of 149,000 units, up from 145,000, as the dance group continues as MTV's darlings of the moment. Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death continues to prove the sad but true adage that sales soar after death, as the album hung on to number 4 with 118,000, down from 134,000.

The Space Jam soundtrack saw nothin' but net, selling a steady 93,000 as the film's star, Michael Jordan, burns up the boards in the current NBA playoffs.

The Wallflowers are still belles of the ball with nearly static sales of 79,000. The Indigo Girls were in perfect harmony with a debut of 78,000 copies of Shaming of the Sun, while Jewel's Pieces of You still shattered much of the competition at the retail racks with a steady 76,000.

Rounding out the female-oriented Top 10 was Badu, whose Baduizm gained 72,000 converts.

In other sales news, U2's Pop is still at number 15 after nine weeks of release, following a relatively modest period in the Top 10. Urban artist and Uptown Records President Heavy D saw his Waterbed Hev drop out of the Top 10 to number 13 in its second week.