The boy band's No Strings Attached again held the top spot on the pop charts, selling 422,000 copies for the week ended April 16.
And with a just-announced fall European tour with labelmate Britney Spears and an upcoming group film project set to shoot early next year for a late 2001 release, 'N Sync's unprecedented retail run shows little sign of slowing.
About the only drama on the charts was who would come in second, with No Doubt, Santana, Sisqó and Da Brat battling it out for also-ran supremacy. The winner: No Doubt, whose long-awaited Return of Saturn was the week's highest debut, moving 202,000 units. The album is the follow-up to the monster-selling Tragic Kingdom, which brought the band such breakthrough hits as "Just a Girl" and "Don't Speak."
Santana's Supernatural, the number two album for the three previous weeks, slipped one spot, but still managed a solid 170,000 in sales.
Sisqó, who will open for 'N Sync on the group's American tour starting May 9, secured the number four spot as Unleash the Dragon sold 150,000 units, according to industry sources.
Da Brat, who recently finished a stint opening for Mariah Carey, debuted at number five this week with her new album, Unrestricted, selling 143,000 copies. Da Brat (her birth certificate reads Shawntae Harris) is a product of super-producer Jermaine Durpi who discovered her after she won an amateur rap contest in Chicago at a Kris Kross concert. Her 1994 debut album, Funkdafied, was a platinum-selling smash.
Da Brat made headlines of a different sort this week as an Atlanta judge ordered her to stand trial for aggravated assault. The hip-hopster allegedly smacked another woman upside the head with a gun during a nightclub catfight last month.
Meanwhile, the Romeo Must Die soundtrack dropped one to number six followed by Destiny's Child's The Writings on the Wall, which held steady at seven.
Last week's highest debut, Big Punisher's Yeeeah Baby, fell five spots to number eight this week. His posthumous disc sold 99,000 copies, 80,000 less than last week. Dr. Dre's 2001 also fell, dropping from number six to number nine. Macy Gray rounded out the top 10 at number 10 as On How Life Is sold 94,000 copies.
Other big debuts included the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch's new film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. The soundtrack, which features Wu-Tang Clan, RZA and Kool G Rap, sold 17,000 copies for a number 84 debut. Ice Cube's cousin, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, also entered the charts this week as his new album, Both Sides of the Brain, sold 11,000 copies for number 118.
And British teen popsters S Club 7, whose television show S Club 7 in Miami airs Sunday nights on the Fox Family Channel, entered the charts at number 120 as their self-titled American debut sold 11,000 copies. S Club 7 won the Best British Newcomer honors last month in London at the 2000 Brit Awards.
With a sobered-up Scott Weiland ready to tour, the Stone Temple Pilots' fourth album, No. 4, re-entered the charts at number 147 with 9,000 copies.
Finally, in a bit of weird chart coincidence, the album A Place in the Sun found itself both at numbers 85 and 86. Of course, the albums are by separate artists. It was Lit's A Place in the Sun at number 85 and Tim McGraw's similarly titled album right behind. The two albums, both selling over 17,000 copies, came within less than 100 copies of selling the exact same number. Both albums came out just about a year ago.