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"Country continues to dominate our charts. Shania has yet another great week and looks like she could run the table at #1 throughout the holiday season. Tim McGraw had a terrific first week of sales, also."
——Hastings’ Mike Fuller
Tuesday, December 3, 2002

KEEPING IT UP!

Tim McGraw, 2Pac, J.Lo, Macca and Snoop Crash Top 10, but Shania Twain Is Still #1
Retailers this week are feeling friskier than Condoleezza Rice with a missile launcher aimed at Iraq. Sales were rising faster than Hugh Hefner after a hit of Viagra.

In the biggest sales week of the year, a total of 28 albums topped the 100k mark, with Mercury Nashville space-age biker chick Shania Twain topping Curb’s Tim McGraw in a battle of country superstars, with both breaking the 600k barrier.

Hastings’ Mike Fuller, known as Bubba to his pals, says: "Country continues to dominate our charts. Shania has yet another great week and looks like she could run the table at #1 throughout the holiday season. Tim McGraw had a terrific first week of sales, also."

McGraw was one of five newcomers to the Top 10, which also included Amaru/Tha Row/Interscope hip-hop icon 2Pac (#4), Epic’s Jennifer Lopez (#6), Capitol’s Paul McCartney double-live CD (#7) and Priority/Capitol gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg (#9).

Added Fuller, his mouth full of leftover stuffing, "2Pac, J.Lo, McCartney and Snoop Dogg all saw big post-Thanksgiving sales."

With the Shady/Interscope/UMG Strx 8 Mile soundtrack showing a healthy 45% increase at #3 and UTV’s Now 11 boasting a 21% increase at #5, Doug Morris’ UMG scored four of the Top Five albums. Rounding out the Top 10 was Arista skate chanteuse Avril Lavigne (#8), with a whopping 97% increase, and WB’s Faith Hill, McGraw’s better half, whose sales total skied 126%, thanks to a pair of primetime TV specials featuring country’s first couple.

Other chart newcomers included American/Columbia/CRG’s System of a Down (#14), Def Soul/IDJ’s Dru Hill (#23), MCA’s The Roots (#24), Cash Money/Universal’s Baby aka the #1 Stunna (#28), Island/IDJ’s Sum 41 (#32), Columbia/CRG’s Barbra Streisand (#36), J’s Busta Rhymes (#44) and Legacy/Columbia/CRG’s Bob Dylan (#50).

Among the most impressive weekly increases were RCA’s Elvis Presley (23-13, up 153%), Fo’ Reel/Universal’s Nelly (27-20, 108%), Aware/Columbia’s John Mayer (#38, 80%), 143/Reprise’s Josh Groban (34-29, 72%) and DGC’s Nirvana (#27, 70%). In all, 30 of the Top 50 albums showed a rise in sales.

 
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