If you see an unfamiliar face at left, it's because the extremely VH1-unfriendly Nelly remains at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart for the sixth week running. However, declining sales figures suggest that record buyers aren't exactly
stampeding to the shops to buy copies of Nelly's Country Grammar in the wake of his performance at last week's MTV Video Music Awards.
Eminem's victory at the VMAs, however, did translate into a second triumph on the charts. After suffering the humiliation of being beneath Britney Spears for two months, his Marshall Mathers LP rises to No. 2, having sold 149,000 copies. Spears' Oops! ... I Did It Again now has to be content with doing whatever "it" is at No. 3.
In a largely stagnant chart, the new entries are also unlikely to find Dire Straits lovers warming to them. New Orleans rapper C-Murder, whose third album, Trapped in Crime, entered the album chart at No. 9, rhymes on songs like "NL Iggaz" and "Damned If They Murder Me," hardly titles to endear themselves to the demographic VH1 calls "Pressured Parents." Still, Crime sold 75,000 copies.
In at No. 19 is Inglewood, Calif.s Mack 10, a discovery of Ice Cube and occasional member of the Westside Connection rap group. His fifth album, The Paper Route, finds the impressively coiffed rapper urging his listeners to "Pimp or Die" and "Keep It Gangsta." Our grandmother sports tattoos of both mottos.
The year's big sellers round out the top 10, although forthcoming releases by Madonna, U2, and Ricky Martin are sure to liven it up in the coming months. At No. 4 is Creed's Human Clay. At No. 5 is 'N Sync's No Strings Attached, which has jumped three places in the wake of the groups win of the Viewer's Choice Award and its impressive performance at the VMAs.
The rest of the top 10 reads like John Wayne Gacy's record collection. At No. 6 is the hits compilation Now That's What I Call Music 4. At No. 7 is 3 Doors Down with Better Life; No. 8 is Papa Roach with Infest; and last week's highest debut, DJ Clue's Backstage Mixtape, stays in the top 10 at No. 10.
In a slow week for musical releases, the new debuts refuse to obey any pattern. Crystal Clear, by Dove Award-winning gospel singer Jaci Velasquez, enters at No. 49. The two other new entries are both compilations. At No. 63, Platinum Hits 2000 rounds up predictable hits by Savage Garden and others. At No. 108, Loud Rocks proves once again that crossing metal and rap really isn't a very marketable idea.
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