Naming his fifth LP Grand Champ turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophesy for DMX, who sold more albums than anyone else last week. Accordingly, X's latest will debut at #1 on next week's Billboard albums chart.

The gravelly voiced rapper sold more than 311,000 copies of his follow-up to 2001's The Great Depression, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (September 24). His first-place showing extends a streak that includes all four of his previous albums. While each LP debuted at the top of the chart, 1999's ... And Then There Was X was the best seller, moving nearly 700,000 copies. Indicative of the slumping music industry, Grand Champ ranks second to last in sales, besting 1998's It's Dark and Hell Is Hot by only 60,000 copies.

That said, A Perfect Circle managed to set a new personal record with their second LP, Thirteenth Step. Next week's #2 disc sold more than 230,000 copies to best their previous album, 2000's Mer de Noms, which moved more than 188,000. Still, 2001's Lateralus, by APC singer Maynard James Keenan's other band, Tool, sold more than both Circle albums combined in their respective first weeks.

Placing third in the chart's new-album trifecta is Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground. On the heels of a successful single, "Danger ... Block on Lock," a remix of the album track "Danger," Badu's third album sold more than 143,000 copies.

The three debuts push last week's #1, John Mayer's Heavier Things, down to #4 with more than 136,000 copies sold, and its runner-up, Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis, down to #5 with more than 125,000 copies.

The third album proved to be the charm for Thursday. The emocore quintet's War All the Time takes the #7 spot. Following two independent releases, the New Brunswick, New Jersey, band's major-label debut moved more than 73,000 copies.

The last LOX member to go solo, Sheek Louch, takes the #9 spot with Walk Witt Me, which sold more than 64,000 in its first week. Meanwhile, Georgia heavyweight MC Bubba Sparxxx's second album, Deliverance, rises from the backwater to bring up the rear at #10. Sparxxx's follow-up to 2001's Dark Days, Bright Nights sold more than 64,000 copies.

Beyoncé's Dangerously in Love drops a spot to #6 after selling another 85,000 copies and breaking the 1.5 million mark. Alan Jackson's Greatest Hits Volume II slips four to #8 with more than 71,000 in weekly sales.

Squeezed out of the top 10 by a mere 1,500 copies, Atlanta duo the Ying Yang Twins take the #11 slot with Me and My Brother, the successor to Alley ... Return of the Ying Yang Twins.

Somebody pinch Saves the Day, since they might be, as the title of their latest album suggests, In Reverie. Two years ago their last album, Stay What You Are, debuted at #100, and now the New Jersey emo kids are at #27.

Other notable debuts include David Bowie's reunion with longtime producer Tony Visconti, Reality, at #29; Aretha Franklin's first album in five years, So Damn Happy, at #33; Steve Miller's The Complete Greatest Hits at #37; pop-punkers MxPx at #51 with Before Everything & After, which features a guest appearance by Good Charlotte's Benji Madden; The Very Best of Grateful Dead at #69; second-stage Lollapalooza group Billy Talent's self-titled debut at #194; and teenage British soul singer Joss Stone's Soul Sessions at #199.