Dave Matthews
Photo: Amy V. Cooper

One example of the "stuff" busted by the Dave Matthews Band's latest album is the three-week clutch Nelly had on the #1 position of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The band's latest, Busted Stuff, will stake claim to the top of the heap on next week's chart after selling more than 621,000 copies, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (July 24).

Although many fans already heard much of Busted Stuff, since nine of its 11 songs were conceived from previously scrapped sessions with producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Morrissey) that became somewhat infamous as an online/bootleg commodity known as the "Lillywhite Sessions," it still managed to double the weekly sales of Nellyville, which will fall to #2 with more than 304,000 copies purchased. Nelly ends his three-week reign at the top with more than 1.8 million in sales.

Eminem's The Eminem Show, the top-10 album that has sold the most overall with a grand total of 4.3 million, will come in third for the second straight week. The MC's third LP moved more than 210,000 to retain its position in the show slot.

On a path paved with hype, the Vines' Highly Evolved will arrive at #11, having sold more than 64,000 in its first week out. Not only has their video for "Get Free" been somewhat of a fixture in the weeks leading up to the debut's release, the Australian quintet is being touted by tastemakers as the second coming of the Strokes ... er, Hives ... er, Nirvana, and the record carried a nice price starting at only $6.99 in some retail outlets.

Sibling R&B duo Mary Mary (Erica and Tina Atkins) score the only top 20 debut on next week's chart with their second album, Incredible. Following a week that saw more than 42,000 copies of it fly off store shelves, the LP will land at #20.

It was another depressing week at retail for the industry, as only three non-debut albums increased in sales from the previous week. Pink recently hit the road as an opening act for Lenny Kravitz, which may have boosted sales of her second album Missundaztood. Although it will drop in chart position, from #11 to #12, weekly sales rose by more than 3,000 copies.

Singer/songwriters John Mayer and Norah Jones also enjoyed a bit of a sales spike. Mayer, who also began a tour last week, will watch his Room for Squares advance seven spots to #16 with a 3,000-copy bump; while Come Away With Me by Jones, who is set to continue her tour Saturday, will leap from #21 to #15.

Elsewhere in the top 10, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' By the Way lost half of last week's sales to slip into the #4 spot, after debuting at #2, with a 140,000 weekly total. Even Avril Lavigne, who had been steadily climbing the chart with her debut Let Go, will stumble a step to #5, selling more than 110,000 copies. Irv Gotti Presents the Inc. will advance one spot to #6, swapping last week's positions with Styles, whose Gangster & a Gentleman will take the #7 spot. Ashanti's self-titled LP will advance a spot to #8, while the Counting Crows' Hard Candy will fall the farthest of its top-10 peers, slipping from its #5 debut position to #9. Josh Groban's eponymous LP will bring up the rear at #10, slipping from its previously held #8 slot.

Vanessa Carlton's Be Not Nobody cracked the half-million mark in sales last week. Although it will hang onto its #30 spot, Carlton's debut sold nearly 4,000 more than it did last week to bring its total to more than 511,000. Other albums that will enjoy a significant boost are Celine Dion's A New Day Has Come, which moves up a step to #23 with nearly a 4,000-copy goose; and Khia's Thug Misses, advancing eight spots to #33 while displaying a retail rise of more than 4,000 copies.

I Miss My Friend by country singer/songwriter Darryl Worley just barely misses cracking the top 20 after its first week in stores, coming in at #21, and former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant's Dreamland rounds out the top 40 debuts at #40.

Other notable chart debuts include the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots at #50; the soundtrack to "Austin Powers: Goldmember" at #56; Jerzee Monet's Love & War at #60; comedians Triple 6 Mafia's Chronicles of the Juice Man at #93; the Starting Line's Say It Like You Mean It at #109; Gorillaz' remix LP Space Monkeyz Vs. Gorillaz: Laika Come Home at #156; and Simon & Garfunkel's Live From New York City 1967 at #165.

On an interesting tip, some Dave Matthews Band fans must like to shop in bulk. Just as the group's Busted Stuff crashes into the #1 slot, their previous album, 2001's Everyday, catapults 53 places to #67, thanks to a weekly total that went from just under 10,000 copies to more than 16,000.

• Dave Matthews Band
• Dave Matthews
• Nelly
• Eminem
• The Vines

Mary Mary
Photo: Kwaku

Mary Mary, the gospel duo who crossed into the mainstream with their dancefloor-friendly debut, are hoping to continue the momentum with their new album, Incredible.

Due July 16, the pair's follow-up to 2000's Grammy-winning Thankful was again mainly produced by Warryn Campbell (Sisqó, Brandy). The sister act of Erica and Tina Atkins also worked with perennial hitmaker Rodney Jerkins ('NSYNC, Britney Spears) on a track titled "He Said."

"The growth and the writing and the singing — everything has been kicked up a notch," Erica said at Tuesday's BET Awards (see "Ja Rule, Missy, B2K Win, Suge And Snoop Exchange Words At BET Awards". "Hopefully we'll win another Grammy and go platinum a few more times and all that stuff."

Like "Shackles (Praise You)," Mary Mary's breakthrough (see "P.O.D., Third Day, Mary Mary Take Home Dove Awards"), Incredible's first single, "In the Morning," is an inspirational song with a dance beat.

The song includes the chorus, "In the morning, you'll be all right/ In the morning, the sun's gonna shine/ In the morning, no clouds in the sky/ When it's dark in your life, just wait for the daylight."

Incredible will also feature a cover of Stevie Wonder's "You Will Know" and tracks about the importance of self-esteem ("Little Girl") and unexpected changes ("Trouble Ain't").

"We want to touch some more hearts and change some more lives through the music that we sing," Erica said.

"By all means," sister Tina added.

• Mary Mary

P.O.D.
Photo: Sandy Campbell

Christian rock group Third Day were the big winners at the 32nd Annual Dove Awards Thursday, while R&B duo Mary Mary and rockers P.O.D. and DC Talk also took home honors on gospel's biggest night.

Third Day won for Best Artist, Best Group and Best Rock Recorded Song for "Sky Falls Down." The Southern rockers also won Best Praise and Worship album for their fourth disc, the live and studio set Offerings: A Worship Album. Newcomer Nicole C. Mullen also won big, taking home awards for Best Songwriter, Best Song and Best Pop/Contemporary Song for "Redeemer." Mullen's self-titled 2000 debut features a soulful mix of gospel and pop hooks with socially-conscious lyrics.

Mary Mary, who appear with Kirk Franklin on the "Kingdom Come" soundtrack, won Best Urban Recorded Song for crossover hit "Shackles (Praise You)" and Best Urban Album for Thankful. Rappers-turned-rockers DC Talk, perennial winners at the ceremony, picked up the Best Modern Rock/Alternative Recorded Song for "Dive," while San Diego outfit P.O.D. won Best Short Form Music Video for "Rock the Party (Off the Hook)." Other notable winners at the awards, held at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry and scheduled to be broadcast in syndication on the WGN and PAX networks this weekend, included Steven Curtis Chapman (Male Vocalist), Randy Travis (Country Recorded Song for "Baptism" and Bluegrass Album for Inspirational Journey) and Fred Hammond & Radical for Christ (Contemporary Gospel Album for Purpose by Design).

The complete winners list is available at www.doveawards.com.

• P.O.D.
• Third Day
• Mary Mary

Kirk Franklin
Photo: Universal

Gospel star Kirk Franklin said the all-star lineup he assembled for the "Kingdom Come" soundtrack — which includes Carl Thomas, Jill Scott and Deborah Cox — was a dream come true.

"I had a wish list of gospel and R&B performers, and it gave me the chance to match all these voices with the movie's visuals," Franklin said. With the soundtrack at #1 on the Billboard gospel albums chart and #26 on the magazine's R&B/hip-hop album chart after two weeks, it's clear audiences are loving the combination, too (the movie itself stars Whoopi Goldberg, Toni Braxton and LL Cool J).

The soundtrack finds R&B stars such as Thomas and Scott alongside contemporary gospel luminaries Mary Mary, Natalie Wilson and Franklin himself. And while the names are among the biggest he's worked with, it's just another in a long line of projects for which Franklin has assembled talented crews of singers and dancers to work his gospel-crossover magic.

Franklin's platinum-selling 1993 debut, Kirk Franklin and the Family, spent 100 weeks atop the Billboard gospel albums chart. His success has continued through 2000's Kirk Franklin Presents 1NC, which cracked the top 30 on both Billboard's gospel and R&B charts.

Kingdom Come's first single finds gravel-voiced Franklin teaming up with Mary Mary on the uptempo "Thank You," while Thomas joins Wilson on "Daddy," a yearning ballad about an errant father. Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman, Tamar Braxton and Trin-I-Tee 5:7 also appear on the album.

Franklin said the best thing about working with R&B stars was discovering how many of them were deeply into gospel music. "Carl Thomas came into the studio and talked about gospel songs and producers from the 1970s I'd never even heard of," Franklin recalled. "It goes to show how much people who don't necessarily record gospel music know about gospel." For all his crossover success, Franklin said it's important to maintain the distinction between the secular and the sacred. "Just because a song like R. Kelly's 'I Believe I Can Fly' is uplifting and spiritual doesn't make it a gospel song," Franklin said. "You can be a great motivational speaker but that doesn't make you a preacher." Despite his popularity outside the gospel realm, Franklin said he remains frustrated that explicit gospel music still has a hard time finding radio and video play. "Let somebody talk about being a Christian, or about Jesus, and it's automatic exclusion," he said. "But this music is very contemporary, very on point with what's happening musically."

• Kirk Franklin
• Jill Scott
• Mary Mary
• Deborah Cox

P.O.D.'s Sonny
Photo: Atlantic

The nominations for the 32nd annual Dove Awards were announced Friday, with names from hard-rocking P.O.D. to R&B faves Mary Mary and country singer Randy Travis reflecting the diversity of contemporary gospel.

Roots rockers Third Day and their lead singer, Mac Powell, received nine nominations, followed by Fred Hammond and Radical for Christ with eight. San Diego's P.O.D. pulled in seven nods, including Group of the Year, Artist of the Year and Modern Rock/Alternative Recorded Song of the Year, for "Rock the Party (Off the Hook)." Mary Mary also scored seven nominations, including New Artist of the Year; Urban Album of the Year, for Thankful; and Urban Recorded Song of the Year, for "Shackles (Praise You)." They'll face competition in that last category from Yolanda Adams, who found crossover success last year with "Open My Heart", from her Mountain High ...Valley Low album.

Travis' Inspirational Journey is up for Bluegrass Album of the Year, with the song "Baptism" up for Country Recorded Song of the Year.

The awards, which recognize the year's best in Christian music, will be presented on April 26 in Nashville, at the Grand Ole Opry House. For a complete list of the nominees in all categories, see www.doveawards.com.

• P.O.D.
• Randy Travis
• Mary Mary