Garth Brooks Logs Second Week At No. 1 With 'Sevens'
Wednesday, December 10, 1997. Reuters

LOS ANGELES- Country star Garth Brooks remained king of the U.S. pop charts as his hit album "Sevens" enjoyed a comfortable lead over the pack in its second week of release, according to sales data issued Wednesday.

The 10 biggest-selling artists for the latest period, ended Dec. 7, were all in the top 10 the week before, and four of the albums posted sales increases from one week to the next.

The highest new entry in the pop charts was the all-star double album "Diana, Princess of Wales -- Tribute," which debuted at a lowly 15th place.

Twenty albums sold more than six figures this week, up from 16 a week ago and 12 in the year-ago period, when No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" topped the list with nearly 230,000 units.

This week, Brooks' "Sevens" sold almost 609,000 copies, and its 32 percent decline from the previous week was the steepest of his career, surpassing the 24 percent second-week dropoff for "Fresh Horses" in 1995. Still, the post-release drop for "Sevens" is not large by industry standards. Total sales of the album stand at 1.5 million.

Canadian songstress Celine Dion moved up a notch to second place as "Let's Talk About Love" sold nearly 290,000 copies in its third week, bringing its total to about 961,600.

Barbra Streisand's "Higher Love" was also up one spot, to No. 3, with sales of 232,200. Its four-week total is 953,200.

Country teen-age sensation LeAnn Rimes' "You Light Up My Life" climbed two places to No. 4 by selling almost 196,000 copies, up by 30,000 units from the prior week. Its 13-week total stands at just shy of 2 million.

Late rapper Tupac Shakur's "R U Still Down? (Remember Me)" slipped three places to fifth with sales of 191,100, a 65 percent drop from last week's opening tally of nearly 549,000.

The Spice Girls appear to be delivering a raspberry to the pundits who wrote off their second album as a sales flop. "Spiceworld" rallied three places to a new high of sixth with sales of almost 182,700, up from 145,000 last week. The album's five-week total stands at 615,500.

The quintet's debut album, "Spice," rose six places to No. 17, with sales of almost 107,800, an increase of more than 23,000. "Spice" remains the year's best-selling album with more than 4.8 million units.

The highest-ranked Christmas album remains Hanson's "Snowed In," which slipped two places to 12th in its third week. However, the Oklahoma youngsters still own the No. 10 spot on the pop charts this week, thanks to a four-notch jump by their "Middle of Nowhere" release.

Elsewhere in the charts, the Diana "Tribute" album, which features contributions from the likes of Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox and Sting, opened in 15th place with sales of 110,000. Billboard magazine had speculated the album might be a contender for the top spot.

The next highest new entry in charts was at No. 114 with Andrea Bocelli's classical "Romanza," followed by the "Scream 2" soundtrack at 131. This album can expect to soar next week following the Dec. 12 release of the movie.

A&M Records saw three of its releases re-enter the charts: Jonny Lang's "Lie To Me" at No. 167, Blues Traveler's sales disappointment "Straight on Til Morning" at No. 187 and Sheryl Crow's self-titled hit release at No. 190.

Conincidentally, the latter acts two opened dates on the Rolling Stones tour, while Lang opens the band's Hawaii shows in January. The Stones' "Bridges to Babylon" held steady at No. 49 with 10-week sales of nearly 646,000.

Rounding out the top 10 were Chumbawamba's "Tubthumper," up one notch to No. 7 with 175,000 units; Metallica's "Re-load," down three to No. 8 with 170,000; Shania Twain's "Come On Over," down two to No. 9 with 161,000; and Hanson's "Middle of Nowhere" up four to No. 10 with 151,500.