Charts: Alan Jackson Drives On

Wed., Feb. 6, 2002 4:45 PM PST by David Jenison

Michael, step down, there's a new Jackson in town.

In a season when Michael Jackson's latest, Invincible, lasted just a week at number one, Alan Jackson's Drive has now topped the charts for three straight weeks. Not only has Alan outperformed the King of Pop, the country crooner's three-week run at number one is better than recent showings by such Nashville notables as Garth Brooks, the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

The Georgia-born honky-tonker sold an additional 189,000 copies of Drive for the week ended Sunday, according to SoundScan, pushing his three-week total to 800,000 copies.

Not to dismiss Jackson's accomplishment, but his ability to hold the top spot with only 189,000 copies sold reflects the all-around sluggish sales in the music industry. His weekly total represents one of the lowest sales for a chart-topping album over the past year. Creed's Weathered, again at number two, sold 109,000 copies, the only other album to crack six-figure sales last week.

The only new entry in the Top 10 belonged to Mary J. Blige, whose reissued No More Drama opened at number 10 with nearly 62,000 copies sold. The updated disc, which includes a new track and remixes featuring P. Diddy, Common and Ja Rule, sold more than double and ranked 18 slots higher than the original Grammy-nominated version (released in August 2001) did the week prior.

With the exception of Blige's No More Drama bumping out the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, the Top 10 was identical to last week's album chart. Once again, Jackson and Creed were followed by Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory at three, Ludacris' Word of Mouf at four, Nickelback's Silver Side Up at five, Ja Rule's Pain Is Love at six, Nas' Stillmatic at seven, Usher's 8701 at eight and Pink's M!ssundazstood at nine.

The week's second-highest debut, the State Property soundtrack, dropped at number 14, selling more than 51,000. Rapper Beanie Sigel, who stars in the film, is part of the State Property crew that also features the Young Guns, Freeway and Oschino & Sparks. The album just barely beat out the 42-song, double-disc Essential Barbara Streisand, which followed at number 15. The collection features such Streisand classics as "The Way We Were," "He Touched Me" and, who can ever forget, "Happy Days Are Here Again."

Other notable newcomers included the Chemical Brothers' Come with Us at 32; Dream Theater's double-disc Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence at 46; former Jay-Z backing vocalist Jaguar Wright at 56 with Denials, Delusions and Decisions; San Diego punk rockers Unwritten Law at 73 with Elva; and country scion Hank Williams III at 156 with Lovesick, Broke & Driftin'.

Next week, Sade's first live album, Lovers Live, will hit the charts. Sade's Lovers Rock, her first album in eight years, opened at number three back in November 2000.

To recap, here are the Top 10 albums for the week ended February 4:

1. Drive, Alan Jackson
2. Weathered, Creed
3. Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park
4. Word of Mouf, Ludacris
5. Silver Side Up, Nickelback
6. Pain Is Love, Ja Rule
7. Stillmatic, Nas
8. 8701, Usher
9. M!ssundazstood, Pink
10. No More Drama (remix), Mary J. Blige