Eminem has been defeated not by Britney Spears, but some warmed-up pop leftovers. The Marshall Mathers LP was replaced at the top of the charts by Now That's What I Call Music 4, a compilation including such masterpieces as
Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)." (Click here for a clip) And Britney has delivered a further spanking to Mathers. For her Oops ... I Did It Again album is firmly entrenched at No. 2.
That leaves Eminem feeling very Vanilla Ice-like at No. 3. That is if you can sell 233,000 copies of your album during the week and still feel Vanilla Ice-like. Em also enjoyed an eight-week run at the top of the charts and has so far sold a total of 5 million copies.
But he might be stinging mad at the amount of loathed pop acts on Now 4. This week 320,500 fans/consumers fell for the charms of Backstreet Boys ("Larger Than Life"), Mandy Moore ("Candy") and….Britney Spears ("(You Drive Me) Crazy").
It's the first time a compilation of previously-released hits has ever topped the Billboard charts. Since its launch, the Now series has trumped other collections by offering a wide range of pop hits, corralling artists from rival labels like Universal, EMI and Sony onto one disc.
Otherwise, the charts are as moribund as you might expect in the middle of a hot July. St. Louis rapper Nelly's Country Grammar is at No. 4. Unusually for a hip-hop phenomenon, Grammar's sales actually went up in its fourth week on release, from 184,000 to 209,000 sold this week. At No. 5 are nu-metallers Papa Roach, whose Infest was up three places from No. 8 last week.
Creed stood strong at No. 6 with Human Clay despite a slight dip in sales. Touring has kept 'N Sync on the charts with No Strings Attached seemingly affixed to the No. 7 position. At No. 8 is the soundtrack to The Nutty Professor II, while at No. 9 is Better Life by Three Doors Down (there are four of them). At No. 10 is the Ruff Ryders' Ryde or Die, Vol. II.
Although the rapper Canibus suffered the ignominy of being beat up by Cam'ron at his own record release party, he may yet have the last laugh. His sophomore album 2000 BC (which you can read VH1.com's review of by clicking here) debuted at No. 23. The two other new entries in the Hot 100 was the soundtrack to Pokemon 2000 at No. 97 and the former Wally Jump Jr., Will Downing, debuting at No. 100 with his eighth solo album All the Man You Need.
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