Master P's Da Last Don, a two-CD set that the entrepreneurial rapper

and No Limit Records CEO has vowed will be his last, moved 470,000 copies in

its first official week of release, according to SoundScan, propelling the album

to the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

While he won't be able to proclaim that the album debuted at #1, since it hit

#112 as of last week after several stores sold the album prior to its official release

date, Master P will be able to gloat that his record company currently has seven

albums in the Top 100 -- an unprecedented accomplishment for an indie label.

Jay Vance, a sales clerk at Tower Records in Philadelphia, attributed the sales

strength of No Limit releases to good old marketing savvy.

"All those No Limit records come with ads for the albums coming out soon and I

guess people think that if they have one, they have to have all of them," said

Vance, adding that customers sometimes pick up No Limit releases in bulk,

snapping up two or three albums at a time.

Aside from Da Last Don -- which features the song

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Master_P/Till_We_Dead_And_Gone.ram"

>"Till We Dead and Gone" (RealAudio excerpt), a collaboration with

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony -- No Limit Records also has the I Got The Hook-

Up! soundtrack at #41; Fiend's There's One In Every Family at #53;

Master P's Ghetto D at #58; Soulja Slim's Give It to 'Em Raw at

#62; Silkk the Shocker's Charge It 2 Da Game at #65; and C-Murder's

Life or Death at #88.

Da Last Don's closest competitor was the #2-charting Adore from

Smashing Pumpkins. The album -- which finds the band

mixing atmospheric, electronic tracks with such techno rockers as

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Smashing_Pumpkins/Ava_Adore.ram">"A

va Adore" (RealAudio excerpt), a shift away from its more traditionally

guitar dominated rockers -- moved 174,000 copies in the week ending June 7. The

multi-platinum band just wrapped up a European tour on Wednesday and is

gearing up for a U.S. tour, proceeds from which will go to local youth charities.

The high sales-figures for Master P's album came as no surprise to 24-year-old

rapper Peter Gunz (a.k.a. Peter Pankey), whose album with partner-in-rhyme

Lord Tariq (a.k.a. Sean Cruz), Make It Reign, debuted this week at #38

with sales of 40,000. "When you announce that this is your last album and

you're one of the biggest rap artists out there, you can't help it," Gunz said. "Master P is slaying us this week,"

"But it's all good. In the end, I think we will prevail."

In other notable debut news, energetic rappers Onyx kicked and screamed their

way into the #10 slot with sales of 90,000 for their third album, Shut 'Em

Down, while pop diva Gloria Estefan's Gloria! bowed at #23. The

soundtrack to the sci-fi summer-event movie, The X Files: The Album,

which features new tracks by such artists as Filter, the Chemical Brothers and X

as well as a hidden track by series creator Chris Carter, landed at #31, trailed

by British pop veteran Rod Stewart's return to rock 'n' roll, When We Were

The New Boys, at #44.

A collection of rare material by late guitar god Jimi Hendrix, BBC

Sessions, debuted at #50. Further down the charts, trip-hop originator

Tricky's critically applauded Angels With Dirty Faces, which features

singer PJ Harvey on the track

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Tricky/Broken_Homes.ram">"Broken

Homes" (RealAudio excerpt), moved 17,000 copies and debuted at

#84.

With so many debuts this week, some artists who have logged some time on the

charts found themselves heading south. Da Last Don sent the former #1 City

of Angels soundtrack down two positions to the #3 slot, which in turn bumped DMX's

former #1 debut album, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, to #6. Those moves sent

the Dave Matthews Bands' Before These Crowded Streets out of the top

10 for the first time since its release on April 28, dropping it from #6 to #12. The

only upward movement in the top 10, aside from debuts, belonged to the

Hope Floats soundtrack, which jumped from #14 to #5.

The Spice Girls turned tragedy into triumph this week, as Ginger Spice's (a.k.a.

Geri Halliwell) departure from the British dance-pop sensations put the Girls

back in the headlines and in the conscience of record buyers. Spice, the

group's debut album, sold 23,000 copies in the week prior to Ginger's leaving

and 26,000 copies in the week following the announcement, bringing the

album's grand sales total to 6.1 million. Spice fans were also eager to pick

up a copy of the group's sophomore album, Spice World, upping its

sales by 3,000 to 18,000 for the week and 2.8 million to date.

The rest of the best: Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys (#7); Reba

McEntire, If You See Him (#8); and Garth Brooks, The Limited

Series (#9).