Backstreet Boys are setting a new gold standard for the music business

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Dec 23, 2099 Source: Billboard Submitted By: Celine Dion and the Backstreet Boys are setting a new gold standard for the music business. Both Dion's All the Way: A Decade of Song and BSB's Millennium sold in excess of 500,000 copies last week (that's a gold record in just seven days) to land at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the country's album charts. Dion's sold 536,000 units, while BSB moved 506,000 copies for the week ending Dec. 19, according to SoundScan. The double-Gold-plus trick had been pulled off only once this year, when brand new records from Korn and Dr. Dre both busted the half-million mark. The fact that Dion's album has been in stores for weeks, and the Backstreet Boys for months, makes their current showings all the more impressive. Last week's top-seller, Born Again, the latest posthumous release from Notorious B.I.G., fell all the way to No. 14. Juvenile's G-Code was the only new record to crack the top fifty this week, coming in at No. 10. That rap influence will continue in the coming weeks, with expected No. 1's due to arrive from DMX and Jay-Z. (The two are labelmates at Def Jam, which hopes to end the year/decade/century/millennium with back-to-back No. 1's from the superstar rappers.) While strong rap sales have gotten plenty of press this year -- along with the emerging rock/rap hybrid plied by Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit and others -- the sales story of 1999 continued to be pop music's iron-clad hold on consumers. Just take a look at the numbers from last week, traditionally one of the strongest of the year: BSB's Millennium is followed by teen stars Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time at No. 3 and Christina Aguilera's self-titled debut at No. 4. Throw in Mariah Carey's Rainbow at No. 8 and Will Smith's Willennium at No. 9, and no other genre of music comes close to challenging pop at the top of the charts. Meanwhile, who's not having such a jolly holiday season? Much-hyped Latin singer Marc Anthony's Desde Un Principio: From the Beginning never found traction, and five weeks after its release is down to No. 192. Same goes for rapper Raekwon's Immobilarity, which fell to No. 171. Sheryl Crow's Live from Central Park dropped to No. 117 its second week in stores, while former A Tribe Called Quest frontman Q-Tip's solo debut, Amplified, slid from No. 28 to No. 78 in just two weeks. From the top, it was Celine Dion's All the Way: A Decade of Song, followed by the Backstreet Boys' Millennium; Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time (selling 444,000 copies); Christina Aguilera's Christina Aguilera (425,000); Santana's Supernatural (399,000); Kenny G's Faith: A Holiday Album (360,000); Shania Twain's Come On Over (309,000); Will Smith's Willennium (292,000); and Juvenile's G-Code (290,000). ERIC BOEHLERT (December 22, 1999) Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: gordon wl9B56 http://www.y7YwKx7Pm6OnyJvolbcwrWdoEnRF29pb.com Submitted by: matt WVquSp http://www.y7YwKx7Pm6OnyJvolbcwrWdoEnRF29pb.com Submitted by: chaba Yn7o7o http://www.y7YwKx7Pm6OnyJvolbcwrWdoEnRF29pb.com Submitted by: Barnypok LtGKP1 http://www.FyLitCl7Pf7ojQdDUOLQOuaxTXbj5iNG.com Submitted by: Avocado Salad I am amazed with the abundance of interesting articles on your site! The author - good luck and wish you the new interesting posts..! Submitted by: Tuna Salad Author, keep doing in the same way..! Submitted by: Mobile Internet Marketing I subscribed to RSS, but for some reason, the messages are written in the form of some hieroglyph (How can it be corrected?!... Submitted by: Personalized Wedding Invitations Every time I come back here again and don`t get disappointed..! Submitted by: Hawaiian Shirts I almost accidentally visited to this site, but stayed here for a long time. Stayed because everything was very interesting. Surely will share with all my friends!... Submitted by: Above Ground Swimming Pool����� Thanks a lot! An extremely interesting comment!!... Click here to see more comments. Comment on this item. Next Item: The year's best in music Prev Item: Backstreet Boys Top-Selling Recording Artists Of Year