Eminem
Photo: Eli Reed

Despite a strong first-week showing from Justin Timberlake's solo debut, the "8 Mile" soundtrack will stay a stride ahead of the 'NSYNC singer on next week's Billboard albums chart.

Timberlake Justified his #2 position with more than 439,000 copies sold, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday. However, fueled by the adrenaline-inducing single "Lose Yourself" and the momentum associated with the film topping weekend box-office charts (see "), the Eminem-stamped soundtrack bested the NSYNCer's LP by more than 68,000 copies to bring its two-week total to more than 1.2 million.

Eminem's über-presence in the media last week made more than 114,000 people realize that he's not just a movie star — he's got an album out, too. Sales to those catching on late in the game allowed The Eminem Show to continue its 25-week engagement in the top 10. The LP actually increased its weekly sales tally from last week's 99,000, nudging it up a slot on to #7. In all, the rapper's third major-label album clocks in with total sales upwards of 6.5 million.

Picked from hits of the last decade, including "Beautiful Day," "One" and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," U2's "The Best Of 1990-2000 will debut at #3 with more than 184,000 copies sold. The landing surprised many chart watchers, not the least of whom is Christina Aguilera, whose second album, Stripped, will drop to #4 (168,000) in its second week.

Jaheim got into the #8 slot with Still Ghetto (see "), his follow-up to last year's Ghetto Love, while fans are still gettin' into the Dave Matthews Band big time. The group's Live at Folsom Field - Boulder, Colorado, which will follow at #9, continues their streak of high-charting LPs. Since 1994's breakthrough Under the Table and Dreaming, eight of their nine full-length albums — including live records — have placed in the top 10. Listener Supported, released in 1999, came in at #15.

Elsewhere in the chart's top 10, Santana's Shaman will slip a spot to #5; Faith Hill's Cry will maintain its #6 position for the second week, and Nirvana's greatest hits collection, Nirvana, will bring up the rear, falling seven spots from its #3 debut.

Juggalos nationwide united to give the Insane Clown Posse their highest chart debut in three years. The harrowing harlequins' latest album, The Wraith: Shangri-La (see "), will land at #15 with more than 76,000 copies sold. Only 1999's The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, — which came in at #4 and sold nearly twice as much — proved a more successful debut for the clown-faced couple.

"The Other Side," the first single from acoustic softie David Gray's latest album, A New Day at Midnight, helped propel the new release into top 20 territory. The British bard's fifth album will land at #17 after selling more than 71,000 copies in its first week.

In July, he presented the Inc. Now Irv Gotti has served more dishes with a new twist from his posse (see "), and hip-hop heads are salivating for a taste. Irv Gotti Presents the Remixes, featuring new takes on tunes by Ashanti ("Unfoolish"), Toni Braxton ("Me and My Boyfriend"), and Ja Rule ("No One Does It Better"), among others, will come in at #24 with more than 46,000 copies sold.

The Wallflowers' make their second attempt to match the success of their 1996 breakthrough, Bringing Down the Horse, with Red Letter Days (see "Red Letter Days Shows Wallflowers Aren't Leaving The Dance"), which will place at #32 with more than 38,000 copies sold. Unfortunately for Jakob Dylan and company, 2000's Breach fared far better after its first week in stores, having come in at #13 with more than 80,000 copies sold.

Other notable debuts on next week's chart include Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli's Sentimento at #12 (98,000); "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack alum Alison Krauss' Live at #36; classic rockers Boston's first full-length album of new material in eight years, Corporate Ame rica, at #42; Eric Clapton's two-disc tour re-visitation, One More Car, One More Rider, at #43; Missy Elliott and Timbaland protégé Ms. Jade's Girl Interrupted at #51; R&B crooner Brian McKnight's 13-year retrospective, From There to Here 1989-2002, at #62; living legend Johnny Cash's latest covers album, Amercian IV: The Man Comes Around, at #70; Grandes Exitos, a best-off culled from Shakira's three Spanish-language albums, at #80; Björk's Greatest Hits at #115; Badly Drawn Boy's uncharacteristically peppy pop album (see " Badly Drawn Boy Salutes Cobain, Turns Down Madonna"), Have You Fed the Fish? at #135; and Ours' second LP, Precious, at #187.

• Eminem
• Justin Timberlake
• U2
• Jaheim
• Christina Aguilera

Hip-pop hooray — Justin Timberlake, Destiny's Child, Nelly, Avril Lavigne, Ja Rule, Ashanti, Kylie Minogue and "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson are set to perform at Jingle Ball 2002. The show, put on by New York radio station Z100, will take place December 12 at Madison Square Garden. ... Andrew WK will support Aerosmith for several dates in December beginning December 2 at the Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. ... After hyping it for four months, VH1 has canceled "Liza and David," its planned reality show about dinner parties hosted by Liza Minnelli and David Gest. "Although we continue to believe that Liza is an amazing talent, we were not given the cooperation that we were promised," said Rob Weiss, one of the show's executive producers. ...

Better Dayz, a new collection of material by Tupac Shakur is scheduled to be released in the next few weeks. It features production by 7 Aurelius on the title track and a song called "Thug Mansion." ... Godsmack frontman Sully Erna will open his own bar in New York City on Halloween. The opening-night guest list at Dorsia — named after novelist Bret Easton Ellis' fictional status-symbol restaurant — includes members of Box Car Racer, the Used, Slipknot, Opeth and Naughty by Nature. ... Lil Jon of Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz fame is producing a few tracks for a former Lil', the artist presently known as Bow Wow. The album is due next year. ...

David Gray will hit North American stages in January when he kicks off a 14-city tour in support of A New Day at Midnight, the follow-up to his 2000 breakthrough album White Ladder, due November 5. The tour will begin on January 26 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit and run through a February 16 date at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. ... DJ Shadow has added a handful of U.S. dates to his globe-crossing jaunt in support of his Shortlist-nominated album, The Private Press. Shadow hits Cincinnati on November 17, wings through Pittsburgh, New York, Rhode Island and San Francisco, then wraps up in Los Angeles on November 25 before heading off to Auckland. ...

Roots rockers the Blasters have extended their year-long reunion tour which is currently scheduled to wind up with a December 14 date at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. Among their upcoming dates is their first-ever hometown show in Downey, California, a Wednesday night benefit at the Rio Hondo Country Club for Johnie's Broiler, one of the last car-hop restaurants in California. ... For the second year in a row, Yo La Tengo will give a Hanukkah present to their fans: eight nights of shows at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey (November 29-December 6). Last year's event featured opening sets from Lambchop, Antietam and Jon Spencer as well as comedians Janeane Garofalo, David Cross and Penn Jillette; a roster of openers and comedians will be announced soon. ...

In an attempt to offset the greenhouse gases produced by the manufacturing and distribution of their new album, the Foo Fighters have hooked up with the London-based environmental group Future Forests for a unique environmental project in which they will be the first U.S. band to go "CarbonNeutral." The deal calls for the band to sponsor two anti-global warming initiatives, one that will help preserve old growth Pacific forests and another that will fund the planting of trees in a forest/wildlife reserve in Tensas River, Louisiana. ... The Fire Theft, a new band featuring three of the four members of defunct Seattle emocore architects Sunny Day Real Estate (including Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel and onetime Foos drummer William Goldsmith), have posted a song from their as-yet-untitled debut album online. Tentatively titled "It's Over," the track can be found at TheFireTheft.com. ...

Seminal Los Angeles punks X are set to launch a two-week trek November 12 in Scottsdale, Arizona, marking first tour to feature the four original members in five years. Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, DJ Bonebreak and John Doe (whom many know from his role on TV's "Roswell," among other screen appearances) conclude the jaunt November 26 in San Francisco. ... 3 Doors Down will hit the road beginning November 2 for a month-long North American tour in support of their second album, Away From the Sun, due November 12. Kicking off with a date at the New River Amphitheater in Jacksonville, North Carolina, the tour will make its way West, winding up at Seattle's KeyArena on December 12, according to the band's Web site. ...

A DVD chronicling Lenny Kravitz's 2002 tour, "Lenny Live," will be released on November 26. The film features behind-the-scenes footage as well as performances of such hits as "American Woman," "Stillness of Heart," "Again," "Are You Gonna Go My Way," "Let Love Rule," "Rock and Roll is Dead" and "Fly Away." ... Southtown quintet P.O.D. will drop their first long-form DVD, Still Payin' Dues, November 12, which should encapsulate the band's decade-long existence in approximately two hours. Included are performances from their recent Youth of the Nation Tour, all seven of the band's music videos and backstage footage shot by the band and its crew. ...

LFO member Brad Fischetti will launch his online record label, 111 Records, on Friday (November 1) with the debut release from his trio, Sari (pronounced sha-DEE). The music is described as a mix of Coldplay, Jackson Browne and Pink Floyd, yielding "an eerie, thought-provoking record that mirrors his somewhat reclusive mind." ... Next up for 111 Records is an album from Fischetti's Sari cohort, singer/songwriter Dan Walters, and the debut of Dusty & Jawn, "a brutally candid exploration of anger, love, and frustration, with the encompassment of melodic punk, rock, and rap." ... Fresh off of their Epitaph Records EP collaboration with Mike Patton and several European dates supporting System of a Down, the Dillinger Escape Plan have written five new tracks for their next album. The as-yet-untitled platter will be the mathematically-inclined noisecore band's first with new vocalist Greg Puciato. ...

10.29.02

Mariah Carey has recorded a cover of Def Leppard's 1983 hit "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" for her new album, Charmbracelet, now due December 3. The record will also include a cover of a more recent tune, Cam'ron's "Oh Boy," featuring the rapper. ... Following the postponement of a Halloween show at New York's Town Hall, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has had a bone thrown his way by Bon Jovi. The New Jersey rockers, who were subjected to the puppet pooch's skewering at a hometown gig last summer, displayed a sense of humor to match the sheer volume of their hairdos circa Slippery When Wet by allowing Triumph to open their November 7 show at the Roseland Ballroom. ... When B2K's Pandemonium drops on December 10, it will be available in five different covers: a standard group photo and limited-edition versions featuring individual portraits of J-Boog, Raz-B, Lil' Fizz and Omarion. The group's holiday album Santa Hooked Me Up and DVD "Live at the House of Blues" are due on October 29. ... Staind have recorded a tribute to late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley that is expected to appear on their new album, due in May. Staind's Aaron Lewis wrote the tentatively titled "Layne" despite never having met the troubled singer because "he felt his passing went unnoticed" and he "needed to let everybody know how talented he was." ...

Bassist Mark "London" Spicoluk has left Avril Lavigne's band to focus on his own band, Closet Monster, and label, Underground Operations. Spicoluk has told Canadian journalists he felt like a marketing tool in Lavigne's band and it wasn't where his heart was. ... Actress Sela Ward ("Once and Again") has recruited Britney Spears, Lance Bass and others to serve on an honorary committee for the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center, a $35 million project she is spearheading in her home state. Faith Hill, Jimmy Buffet, B.B. King, Morgan Freeman and none other than Kermit the Frog are also on the committee. ... Bass's fellow 'NSYNCer JC Chasez will support his former "Mickey Mouse Club" friend Tony Lucca by appearing at the launch party for his new record company at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on November 12. Chasez, whose single "Blowing Me Up (With Her Love)" will hit radio on November 18, told a Los Angeles radio station he may perform at the event. ...

Love is in the air for O-Town's Jacob Underwood, as he tied the knot with his high-school sweetheart, Janie, in San Diego on Sunday in an outdoor ceremony. Underwood may have to cut the honeymoon short, however, as the group is preparing to release O2 on November 12. ... Former Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh is debuting his paintings in an art show called "Infections" at the Paradise Lounge in Boston. Welsh's first public showing, which began October 25 and continues until Christmas, features a collection of nearly 50 acrylics, oils and collages. ... Metal veterans Bret Michaels (Poison) and Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) will join rockers George Thorogood, Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Sheila E. and others at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, a benefit for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on November 14. Drew Carey is hosting the event. ...

Electronic music mastermind Carl Craig and Karriem Riggins (Common, Slum Village) are producing an album of Detroit jazz all-stars, including Marcus Belgrave, Regina Carter and others, due in February. Dubbed the Detroit Experiment, the album is the sequel to last year's Philadelphia Experiment, the jazz side project of the Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson. ... Wiley Publishing, the company responsible for educating more dummies than your local community college, will begin releasing "For Dummies" CDs early next year designed to school listeners in such genres as pop, soul, rock, jazz, blues, electronica and hip-hop. The discs will be distributed through independent label Superb Records and will be carried by bookstores, record stores and other retail outlets, the project's publicist said. ... Grammy Award-winning engineer/producer Tom Dowd, who worked with everyone from Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding to John Coltrane, the Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton in a career that spanned 50 years, died in Florida on Sunday at the age of 77.

• Justin Timberlake
• *NSYNC
• Ja Rule
• Tupac
• Godsmack

David Gray
Photo: MTV News

After David Gray's manager heard "Dead in the Water," the first song from the Welsh singer/songwriter's forthcoming album, he made a suggestion.

"He thought I should change it to 'In Bed With Your Daughter,' which he thought had more commercial potential," Gray said with a smirk. "But I knocked that on the head."

On A New Day at Midnight, due November 5, there's no getting around the somber tone of Gray's most introspective collection of songs yet.

His fifth studio album was written as White Ladder was selling millions of copies, but also while his father was dying of cancer.

"I was having these mad conversations," Gray said, rubbing his hand across the stubble on his face. "He was very sick, and you get into this strange thing of once cancer rears its ugly head, you never get a straight answer. [You hear,] 'The test results will be in next week,' and you're foolishly hoping it's going to be good news, but you never quite get ..."

Gray paused to collect his thoughts.

"Anyway, there was lots of that going on, while everything was going incredibly well in another way," he continued. "The songs I was writing back then, there's a lot of that emotion running through them. That's the core of this record, there's no point pretending otherwise. It's not quite as poppy on the whole as White Ladder was, [pop] by my standards. This has more depth and is a more personal statement. That's just the way it came out. I had a lot of stuff to deal with."

While A New Day at Midnight has its cheerful moments, like "Caroline" and "Real Love," most of the album is darker and quieter than his breakthrough single, "Babylon," which was the kind of infectious fare you would expect Dave Matthews to release on his label (see "David Gray: Say Hello").

The album opens with "Dead in the Water," a solemn tune on the surface but not one of the album's more personal numbers, according to Gray.

"I caught something that happens to songwriters — Elvis Costelloism," Gray explained. "That's where you have chord changes every few seconds. I got this chord sequence that was just never-ending. It was like major, minor, seventh, major, minor. I thought I'd turned into the Beatles or something. Normally I'm like, 'G, C, where should I go now?' This was sophisticated songwriting. On a technical level, that's what happened, so because of that, weaving the lyrics in was a bit more complicated. There's wasn't that much room."

Gray started singing the words "Dead in the water" and then simply added other ambiguous verses. "It's just sort of mish mash, not to demystify it too much," he said. "It's like my earlier albums in that it's slightly more aggressive, more controversial. I'm not really sure what it's about, but it's got an anti-religious bent to it. It seems to be critical. ... And I like starting the record with it, because it immediately is completely different from White Ladder."

A New Day at Midnight's first single is the album's closer, "The Other Side." The lyrics, like those of "Babylon," reflect on a shattered relationship, although given the context of the song, it clearly has a double meaning.

"The lyrics are suggesting that the person singing the song is singing it to someone else who he has been in a relationship with that's broken down," Gray explained. "It's like, 'Meet me on the other side of this' kind of thing. The other side of this turmoil and heartbreak. The power of the lyrics suggests, [however,] 'Meet me on the other side of death.' It's a bit of a call into the void. That's where the song gains its power. And that's what seems to have come out stronger than all the lyrics."

"The Other Side" was the last song Gray recorded for the album and was done much more quickly than the others were. His vocals on the album are actually from the first take of the song, when Gray was at his most revealing. "When you catch yourself off guard, you're really blown away," he said.

Gray recently shot a video for the single in London, where he invited thousands of fans onto the set. The clip begins with Gray singing straight into the camera in complete darkness, but when the drums kick in, lights beam out to reveal the many onlookers surrounding him.

"It's not like they're my audience, but thousands of souls," Gray explained. "It's just a simple idea. It's such a stark song. It's not something you can do a quick-cut, whistles-and-bells kind of video for. That would just be ridiculous. It had to be incredibly simple."

After hearing the song a few times, the audience began singing along, even adding a harmony part that isn't on the recording.

"It actually sounded really cool," Gray said. "But it might sound like crap in the post-production."

• David Gray

Past Best New Artist recipients: Cyndi Lauper, Shelby Lynne, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Sheryl Crow, Lauryn Hill, Sade, and Culture Club's Boy George

Alicia Keys, Linkin Park, Nelly Furtado, India.Arie and David Gray are up for the Best New Artist Grammy. Perhaps they should be afraid.

If peer admiration is the best kind of compliment, winning a Grammy is indeed music's highest honor. Determined by the ballots of those who have worked on six or more commercially produced songs — as musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers or in other capacities — the award overlooks critical non-factors such as record sales or radio popularity to identify "true" artistic achievement.

While this form of flattery doesn't exactly get you nowhere, sometimes the ride is over quick. Ask some past winners of the Best New Artist award what their Grammy and a buck will get them and they're liable to point to the McDonald's dollar menu. For others, walking away with a Grammy leads to a road paved with gold and platinum.

Of the genre-spanning "big four" awards — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year (given to the songwriters) and Best New Artist — expectations hang heaviest on the latter. Like the Rookie of the Year or Heisman Trophy, the Best New Artist award, while recognizing a stellar year, is viewed as a predictor of bigger and better things. And while some have used the honor as a stepping stone, the careers of others have sunk under its weight.

Mariah Carey and Sheryl Crow were each dubbed Best New Artists in the voting years their respective debut albums, Mariah Carey and Tuesday Night Music Club, were released, and while 1990 was the only time she caught Grammy gold, albeit twice (also for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Vision of Love"), Carey is 37 times platinum in the eight albums since. Crow added to her glory with six more Grammys and 11 platinum plaques from the three albums that followed her 1994 maiden win.

Early '80s artists Sade, Men at Work, Culture Club and Cyndi Lauper also benefited from Best New Artist buzz. Sade continues to strike precious metal, with last year's Lovers Rock certified double platinum, and though the careers of the others faded one or two albums later, it wasn't before they sold millions of copies and produced a flurry of hit singles.

Conversely, winning the Best New Artist award is sometimes a Pyrrhic victory. For every Carey and Crow, there are those for whom the award marked the apex of their careers.

Big things seemed in store for 1991 Best New Artist Marc Cohn. His "Walking in Memphis" was a hit and his self-titled debut was certified gold at the time of the awards ceremony. Unfortunately for the singer/songwriter, "Walking in Memphis" strode alone. Nothing Cohn released off his two successive albums, 1993's The Rainy Season and 1998's Burning the Daze, came close to matching its magnitude, and combined they've yet to sell 500,000 copies, according to SoundScan. Marc Cohn reached platinum status five years later, while its creator works as a session player.

Christopher Cross' "Ride Like the Wind" and "Sailing" blew the 1980 winner into stardom and off the musical map just as quickly. Although his self-titled debut album fostered two other singles, and his "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," from the movie "Arthur," was a hit, his eight albums since paled in comparison to his first LP, which has been certified five-times platinum. Hootie & the Blowfish (1995) and Arrested Development (1992) are among the others whose careers suffered after taking home the Best New Artist trophy.

Recent recipients Lauryn Hill and Christina Aguilera must surely be feeling the pressure as they prepare their post-Grammy follow-ups, especially considering Shelby Lynne's disappointing après-Grammy showing. I Am Shelby Lynne, the 2000 album that afforded her the award, sold more than 225,000 copies to date, while its successor, last year's Love, Shelby, has yet to break 70,000 in sales.

While the Best New Artist award can hint toward an artist's future success, it may also mark the emergence of a predominant musical style. Like Aguilera's win that punctuated the female teen pop boon of 1999, and LeAnn Rimes' score in the midst of a country crossover trend in 1996, might a victory for India.Arie point toward a neo-soul happening? Would one for Nelly Furtado reclaim the prize for the light, funky ones? If it goes to David Gray or Alicia Keys, who herself might not be a contender if it weren't for Lauryn Hill in 1998, would soul-baring be the new rap-rock? Or would rap-rock persevere as a post-modern outlet for aggression if Linkin Park take home the trophy? We'll have to wait and see.

For more Grammy news, check out the MTV News Grammy Archive.

Stick with MTV News for complete coverage when the Grammys are handed out on Wednesday. You can catch the action live from the red carpet on "Backstage at the Grammys" beginning at 7 p.m. (ET) on MTV, and get up-to-the-minute news and reaction from the stars on MTVNews.com throughout the night.

• Alicia Keys
• Linkin Park
• Nelly Furtado
• India.Arie
• David Gray

DMX
Photo: Def Jam

In this week's chart and sales analysis, we get down and dirty with DMX, Jay-Z and the late, great Tupac Shakur; Gorillaz' monstrous sales figures inspire us to revisit other U.K. exports, including Dido, Radiohead, Coldplay and David Gray; and we examine what a difference a hit makes in the world of Jane's Addiction side projects.

All About DMX

DMX is making history with The Great Depression. When his new album tops the Billboard albums chart at #1 next week (see "No Surprise — DMX Is Billboard Top Dog"), it will become the Yonkers, New York, MC's fourth consecutive LP to pull off the chart-topping feat.

DMX's previous three efforts, ...And Then There Was X (1999); Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood (1998) and It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998) all entered the Billboard 200 at #1 (selling 698,000; 670,000 and 251,000 copies in their first weeks in stores, respectively). Unlike DMX's last two albums, which were both issued a few days before Christmas, The Great Depression didn't need a seasonal sales rush to spike its figures. The record racked up some 439,000 copies out of the gate, according to SoundScan.

With the four-peat, DMX becomes the first artist in the SoundScan era (which dates back to May 1991) to have the first four albums of his career all debut at #1 — an accomplishment even unassailable by contemporary chart heavyweights such as 'NSYNC, Eminem, Backstreet Boys, Limp Bizkit or Creed.

Both 'NSYNC's and Backstreet Boys' eponymous debuts took a while to catch on with audiences and ascend the charts, as did Limp Bizkit's Three Dollar Bill, Y'all and Creed's My Own Prison. And for all the pomp and bawdiness surrounding Eminem's The Slim Shady LP, the album debuted at #2 in February 1999 (behind TLC's Fanmail) with first-week sales of 283,000 and never reached the #1 spot on the Billboard 200.

In theory, one of the few artists who might have a chance of catching or matching DMX is pop siren Britney Spears, whose ...Baby One More Time and Oops! ... I Did It Again both debuted at #1 — as Spears' new album, Britney, is likely to do when it arrives in stores on November 6. But considering DMX's prolific nature (only seven months separated the rapper's first two albums, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood), we wouldn't be too surprised if he tosses out his fifth and sixth albums before Spears can cut a follow-up to Britney.

Even though DMX has only released four solo records, his career sales and chart accomplishments are even more impressive when stacked against a contemporary such as Jay-Z, or even the legendary Tupac Shakur.

According to SoundScan, DMX has already sold a total of 12.17 million copies in his career, with both It's Dark and Hell Is Hot and ... And Then There Was X moving more than 4 million copies each. Assuming The Great Depression sells at least as well as those records, DMX should easily cross the 16 million mark by the time Depression plateaus.

By comparison, Jay-Z has sold some 13.49 million copies so far in his career, including sales of his five solo records: Reasonable Doubt; Vol. 1 ... In My Lifetime; Vol. 2 ... Hard Knock Life; Vol. 3 ... Life and Times of S. Carter and The Blueprint, as well as The Dynasty - Roc La Familia 2000, the mostly-Jay-Z album featuring his Roc-A-Fella crew.

To his credit, Jay-Z's most recent four releases, The Dynasty included, all debuted atop the Billboard 200, with The Dynasty selling more than 557,000 copies its first week in stores in November 2000. However, Jay-Z only has one 4 million-seller, Vol. 2 ... Hard Knock Life (4.97 million), while DMX's smallest seller, Flesh of My Flesh (3.07 million), has outsold every other Jay-Z LP, just edging out Vol. 3 ... Life and Times of S. Carter (2.83 million).

If DMX can maintain his current audience with the next two records after The Great Depression, he will likely push into the rare air of rap sales titan Tupac Shakur, whose records have sold more than 22 million copies — a figure that includes his Greatest Hits compilation, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (recorded under the pseudonym Makaveli) and Still I Rise, an LP credited to Tupac and West Coast rappers Outlawz.

Considering that the newest release from Shakur's estate, Until the End of Time, has already sold more than 1.75 million copies in seven months — and that the rest of Tupac's back catalog continues to sell at a clip of 15,000 copies per week — Shakur's numbers could keep DMX at a distance for some time.

Eminem and Dr. Dre are also players in the career sales category, and both may rival Shakur's numbers — assuming they both continue to release solo efforts, which is perhaps a bigger question for Dre than his protégé. Even though Dre and Eminem have only issued a pair of solo albums each, their career numbers already bookend DMX's career total. Dre is just behind DMX with 11.48 million copies sold of The Chronic and Dr. Dre 2001, while Eminem is just ahead of DMX with 12.81 million copies sold of The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP.

Go Gorillaz, Go Go Gorillaz

With more than 943,000 copies sold of Gorillaz, the U.K.'s virtual supergroup has perhaps become the most popular animated act since the Archies stormed the airwaves with their bubblegum hit "Sugar, Sugar" in the late '60s.

The album, the brainchild of Brit artist Jamie Hewlett and performers such as Blur's Damon Albarn, Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Del the Funky Homosapien, Kid Koala, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori and Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club-bers Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, is undoubtedly one of the more stupefying hits of the year. We must admit, though, we're a little shaky on classifying Gorillaz as a U.K. act — especially considering the nonfictional members' mixed ethnic and national backgrounds — but that's how they were presented.

The real surprise is that with almost a million copies moved in America, the cartoon Gorillaz have gone ape as one of the biggest U.K. hits of the last few years — ranking ahead of Coldplay's Parachutes (842,000 copies sold) and Radiohead's Kid A (918,000), but well behind David Gray's White Ladder (1.46 million) and the biggest Brit import in recent memory, Dido's No Angel (3.55 million), an album that didn't hit the charts until mid-2000, almost a year after its release.

Albarn is doubtlessly reveling in how Gorillaz's Stateside sales have put to unyielding shame those of Oasis' most recent studio effort, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (187,000 copies sold). But you probably won't see him gloating at his Brit rock nemeses the Gallagher brothers too much, as he knows that Blur's last album, 13, only moved 133,000 copies in the U.S., according to SoundScan.

Coming Down The Mountain

Speaking of bragging rights, you have to wonder if Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro is having a little bit of fun needling frontman Perry Farrell over their respective solo releases during Jane's current tour.

Navarro's Trust No One and Farrell's Song Yet to Be Sung were both released in June, and Navarro's solo debut has gotten the better of the Jane's Addiction frontman. Buoyed by Navarro's alternative radio hit, "Rexall," Trust No One has so far outsold Farrell's Song by a margin of 182,000 to 30,000. But if that gets mentioned, Farrell could bring up Deconstruction, the self-titled album Navarro and former Jane's bassist Eric Avery cut as a group after Jane's split-up in '91. Issued in '94, Deconstruction has sold less than 38,000 copies to date.

Porno for Pyros, the band featuring the other half of the Jane's Addiction splinter — Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins — fared much better with their eponymous debut (658,000 copies sold) although Porno's second album, Good God's Urge (293,000), took quite a dip trip.

Navarro might then remind Farrell that the 1995 Red Hot Chili Peppers album he played guitar on, One Hot Minute, sold over 1.71 million copies, according to SoundScan. Farrell could then retort that the RHCP records that bookend One Hot Minute — Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication, both featuring John Frusciante on guitar — sold more than 4 million copies each.

Hopefully, Perkins would then intervene and remind the two that Nothing's Shocking and Ritual De Lo Habitual are RIAA-certified platinum and double platinum, respectively, and that the Jane's Addiction catalog is continuing to fix another 100,000 in sales a year.

Then, maybe, they might get to work on recording something new together.

Next week, Strange Relationships examines the decade-long sales apprenticeship of Lenny Kravitz and goes inside the sibling sales figures of Michael and Janet Jackson.

[In SoundScan we trust. All figures, unless otherwise noted, are according to SoundScan's audited sales numbers and reflect sales as of press time.]

• DMX
• Gorillaz
• Jay-Z
• Tupac
• Dido

Orbital
Photo: Sire

For their upcoming album The Altogether (due September 4), Orbital have cobbled together the obligatory thumping dance beats, euphoric techno rhythms and video game blips and bleeps, but they've also taken a few unusual paths in their pursuit of aural ecstasy.

"Doctor?" offers their version of the theme from the popular English TV show "Doctor Who," "Tension" samples punkabilly shock-rockers the Cramps, and "Illuminate," which will likely be the first single in the U.S., features guest vocals by acoustic singer/songwriter David Gray. The reflective track balances Gray's emotive drawl with shuffling beats and a syncopated keyboard line. A second mix, which turbo-charges the dancebeats, won't be on the record, but may go to radio. Orbital co-founder Phil Hartnoll had no problem hooking up with Gray because the two acts share not only the same manager, but some of the same family members. "David Gray is my brother-in-law," Hartnoll said with a laugh during an interview at New York's Time Hotel on Wednesday. "I'm married to Rachel Rooney, and he's married to Olivia Rooney, so he's my children's uncle." "Illuminate" was originally written as an instrumental track for the group's 1999 album The Middle of Nowhere, but Orbital thought it felt out of place alongside the longer, more introspective songs on that disc. Then when Phil and his brother/bandmate Paul were putting together material for The Altogether, they dug out the tape and decided to ask Gray to contribute. "He was around one day having a cup of coffee, and I said, 'Hey Dave, get the microphone and see if we can do something,' " Hartnoll recalled. "It was really no big deal, and it worked out really well, so we put it on the album." One of the most striking and unusual tracks on The Altogether is "Tootled," which is composed of samples from seven Tool songs reassembled in an unsettling dancey framework. The relationship between the two seemingly disparate acts goes back to 1997 when they shared the stage at the Lollapalooza festival. "We really got into them after seeing them night after night," said Hartnoll. "When we got back home we bought all their records. Then one day we were sitting around the studio and we just grabbed a load of their records to sample some of that juicy guitar they use. It all took off from there, and it came out of complete admiration. We were just having fun with Tool." As much fun as Orbital had crafting "Tootled," the Hartnolls were initially a little worried the guys in Tool would be offended by the completed cut. "We saw them last Friday in Germany, and we were kind of nervous," admitted Hartnoll. "But they said they really enjoyed the song, which was great to hear."

• Orbital
• Tool
• David Gray

Craig David
Photo: Eufloria

May 24 wasn't such a beautiful day for U2, who lost Best Contemporary Song honors to English R&B crooner Craig David at the 46th Annual Ivor Novello Awards ceremony, which was held at the Grosvenor House in London. The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters presented the event, and during the evening David won three awards. He received the aforementioned Best Contemporary Song for "Seven Days," beating out U2's "Beautiful Day" and David Gray's "Please Forgive Me." He also took home the Ivor Dance Award for "Woman Trouble," a song which earned the singer and co-writer Mark Hill the Songwriter of the Year trophy as well.

Although David Gray was beaten out for Best Contemporary Song, he won Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Babylon," beating Coldplay's "Trouble" and S Club 7's oh-so-poignant "Never Had a Dream Come True." Other awards went to All Saints (Performing Rights Society's Most Performed Work for "Pure Shores"), classical composer and Metallica collaborator Michael Kamen (Best Original Film Score for "X-Men") and Sonique (International Hit of the Year for "It Feels So Good").

Who guitarist Pete Townshend was given the Lifetime Achievement Award and Stevie Wonder won the Special International Award.

• Craig David
• David Gray
• Stevie Wonder
• All Saints
• Pete Townshend

Foo Fighters
Photo: Danny Clinch

Although many of the U.K.'s fabled summer music festivals have been daunted by the rash of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, V2001 is charging fearlessly ahead with a lineup that includes the Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The recently finalized lineup also includes David Gray, Coldplay and Doves, a V2001 spokesperson said. The massive annual concert will take place at two English locations — Hylands Park, Chelmsford, and Weston Park, Stafforshire — over the weekend of August 18-19, and tickets go on sale Saturday.

The Chili Peppers will headline Saturday's Weston Park show and Sunday's show in Chelmsford. Meanwhile, Coldplay and Texas will co-headline the Saturday gig in Chelmsford before heading over to Weston Park for Sunday night wrap-up duties.

Other bands scheduled to play V2001 include the Charlatans U.K., Muse, Placebo, JJ72, Grandaddy, Toploader, Faithless, the Divine Comedy, Shed Seven and Stairsailor.

• Foo Fighters
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Coldplay
• David Gray
• Doves

David Gray
Photo: RCA

Though much of the world is still discovering him, it's been more than two years since Welsh singer-songwriter David Gray released his platinum-selling White Ladder — and much longer since he began writing and performing.

Those wondering what Gray was doing prior to Ladder will soon have their curiosity satisfied. Gray has re-recorded some of his early work and will release Lost Songs 95-98 on Tuesday (April 17) via Dave Matthews' ATO Records (see "David Gray's Lost Songs Found In U.S. Next Month").

"I had a lot of sparse, kind of melancholy stuff hanging around from before the White Ladder period, and I didn't want it to go to waste or just be this messy collection of home recordings and demos," Gray said of the album, which was recorded during a single week in 1999. "I've gone to great pains to make it clear it's in no way a follow-up to White Ladder. It's a record I perhaps should have made earlier in my career, just me and the acoustic guitar." Lost Songs, nominated for Best British Album at February's Brit Awards (it lost to Coldplay's Parachutes), is Gray's way of thanking his fans. "It's a nice stocking filler for fans who've been on board for the long haul," Gray said. "It'll keep 'em going through the long winter months until our next real record." Gray said he looks forward to entering the studio again, but that it could be a while until he does. "I've got some studio time penciled in sometime in 2004," he joked. "We did some demos before we set off on tour and were so excited about them we cobbled together live arrangements to give the songs a bit of an airing on the road." The new material should freshen a set that's seen its fair share of audiences over the past couple of years. "It helps that thousands — millions, in fact — have become attached to the record and turn up to give it everything," Gray said of his busy touring schedule. "At times it has been a real performance, in the true sense of the word, because we've played the record so many times. But when you get a new crowd and a new city, you want to really give it to them." Gray recently embarked on a 33-date sweep of the States, with shows in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago this week (see "David Gray Launching North American Tour In April").

White Ladder is at #84 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after rising as high as #34.

• David Gray

David Gray
Photo: RCA

David Gray's not waiting for White Ladder to stop its climb on the charts before releasing more material. Lost Songs 95-98, an acoustic set recorded in 1999, will see its first U.S. release on April 17.

Already out in Ireland and England, the disc was up for Best Album at last month's Brit Awards, where it lost out to Coldplay's Parachutes. The disc comes out Stateside five days after Gray kicks off his North American tour in Minneapolis.

White Ladder has gone platinum, largely on the strength of the hit "Babylon." Gray also is set to perform on the "Late Show With David Letterman" on May 2.

Lost Songs 95-98 track listing:

• "Flame Turns Blue"
• "Twilight"
• "Hold On"
• "As I'm Leaving"
• "If Your Love Is Real"
• "Tidal Wave"
• "Falling Down the Mountainside"
• "January Rain"
• "Red Moon"
• "A Clean Pair of Eyes"
• "Wurlitzer"

• David Gray

MTV.com LIVE: David Gray Photos 08.03.2005

• David Gray

• David Gray

David Gray

• David Gray