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NEWS : STORIES
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03.18.1998 9:40 PM EST
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Madonna, Clapton Line Up Behind Titanic
Killah Priest is week's top hip-hop debut.
by
SonicNet's Randy Reiss
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She may no longer be the Material Girl, but Madonna posted material gains
in album sales this week.
SoundScan reports that her critically acclaimed Ray of Light album
sold 224,000 copies in the week ending March 15, enough to keep
the disc
lodged in the #2 slot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The
album's two-week sales total is 596,000, which earns it a gold
certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.
With the Titanic soundtrack ensconced in the #1 slot for the fourteenth
week in a row -- and Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love seemingly
setting up a residence at the #3 slot -- Madonna's closest
competition came from guitar god Eric Clapton and his latest,
Pilgrim. That album, which Clapton will support by touring the U.S.
with a full band and orchestra, landed at the #4 slot after selling 168,258 copies according to SoundScan. The second-highest debut of the week came from Australian pop ingenue Natalie Imbruglia, whose
Left of the Middle moved 84,000 copies and
nestled into the #10 spot.
Wu-Tang Clan associate Killah Priest's Heavy Mental was the highest
hip-hop debut of the week, moving 43,000 copies to land at #24. Elsewhere
in the hip-hop world, gangsta-rapper Scarface
saw his double CD, My Homies -- which features guest appearances by his fellow Geto Boys Willie D and Bushwick Bill as well as Master P and Tupac
Shakur -- drop from #4 to #9 in its second week of release, with sales of the album thus far adding up to 270,000. Fellow gangsta-rapper
Silkk The Shocker also saw a slight drop, moving out of the Top 10 for the
first time as Charge It 2 Da Game slid from #6 to #12.
Further down the charts, The Artist's long awaited Crystal Ball set,
which last week rocketed from #114 to #62, returned from whence it came,
landing back at #114. Meanwhile, rockabilly dance-pop artist Jimmy Ray saw
his self-titled debut move 9,400 copies, according to SoundScan, enough to
make its grand entrance at #131. This week also featured debuts by metal
acts old and new, with former Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford's solo project Two landing at #176 with Voyeurs and alt-metal act Sevendust arriving on the scene at #169.
The act to watch on next week's charts will be Van Halen. Their latest,
3, features new singer Gary Cherone, the former lead singer
of Extreme. Among the other albums to watch next week is gangsta-rapper
Daz Dillinger's Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back; over-excited
hip-hoppers Onyx and their Shut 'Em Down; and the soundtrack to Ice
Cube's next movie, Player's Club. Lastly, watchers of retro-trends
will want to keep their eyes on Rumours Revisited, a Fleetwood Mac
tribute album that features tracks by Duncan Sheik, Matchbox 20 and Jewel.
The rest of the best: Savage Garden, Savage Garden (#5); K-Ci &
Jojo, Love Always (#6); Various Artists, The Wedding Singer
Soundtrack (#7); and Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys (#8).
 
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