In a year of ups and downs for hardcore rapper DMX, the history books will reflect that he

ended up on top.

The 27-year-old rapper, born Earl Simmons, saw his sophomore album, Flesh of My

Flesh -- Blood of My Blood, debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart this

week. This repeats the chart-topping success of his debut, It's Dark and Hell Is

Hot, released just seven month earlier. It's Dark and Hell Is Hot moved over

250,000 copies in its first week of release, according to sales watchdog SoundScan, but

DMX had a bigger fanbase to work with this time around and moved 670,227 copies in

the week ending Dec. 27, 1998.

In addition to having a rare double-shot of #1 debuts in the same year, DMX also did

what nobody else could do for over a month: eliminate country superstar Garth Brooks

from the #1 spot. Brooks' Double Live album fell from #1 to #2 for the first time

since its Nov. 24 chart debut. But the double-disc set, which includes live versions of

such hits as "Friends In Low Places" and

bin/get-music/Brooks,_Garth/Longneck_Bottle.ram">"Longneck Bottle"

(RealAudio excerpt), still had stellar sales, moving 586,642 copies -- nearly 40,000 more

than in the previous week.

Between the release dates of his two albums, DMX has had a wild ride. Soon after his

debut album hit #1, he hit the road with labelmates Onyx and Def Squad as a part of the

"Survival of the Illest Tour," which hit theater-sized venues on the East Coast and in the

Midwest. He missed the first date of the tour, however, when he turned himself in to New

York police on June 17 after a woman accused him of rape, sodomy and false

imprisonment.

On Aug. 20, DMX was fully cleared of all charges brought against him after test results

revealed that his DNA did not match DNA from semen found at the scene of the alleged

crime.

DMX returned to the spotlight when the film "Belly" was released on Nov. 4. In the film,

which was directed by hip-hop video director Hype Williams, DMX played Tommy Brown,

a fast-living player whose brother (played by fellow rapper Nas) was attempting to lead a

straighter life. In spite of DMX's popularity and appearances by rapper Method Man and

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins of R&B trio TLC, "Belly" flopped. The movie fell just short of

recouping its $10 million cost by the time it exited theaters in mid-December, according

to Variety.

With Flesh of My Flesh -- Blood of My Blood making such a strong debut,

however, DMX is seemingly back at square one, ready to take on the world once again.

"A lot of whack motherf---ers out there right now that's killing the charts," DMX said earlier

this year of the state of hip-hop following the release of It's Dark and Hell Is Hot.

"I'm telling them to stop being greedy. I'm saying let some brothers who are actually

talented -- you know what I'm saying -- get some of this money."

"No names," he continued, "but they know who they are. If you all can eat, I can eat. Don't

make me bite you, don't make me eliminate you."

Holiday sales gave over 75 percent of the albums on the Billboard 200 albums

chart a boost, including a few that had fallen off the chart completely.

Alt-rockers Smashing Pumpkins, for example, crept back onto the chart at #199, as

Adore's sales got a holiday bump from last week's 16,089 to this week's 20,668.

Also reappearing on the chart were gangsta-rapper Master P's Ghetto D (#171),

ganja-and-guns rappers Cypress Hill's IV (#178), blues guitarist/singer Kenny

Wayne Shepherd's Trouble Is... (#189), R&B singer Tatyana Ali's Kiss the

Sky (#194), Dave Matthews Band's Live at Red Rocks (#195) and R&B singer

Tyrese's self-titled debut at #198.

Not everyone benefited from increased holiday sales. Last week's highest debut,

Ghetto Fabulous from rapper Mystikal, tumbled from #5 to #18 after moving

230,147 copies, bringing his two-week total to 616,188. Fellow gruff-voiced rapper Busta

Rhymes saw his Extinction Level Event fall from #13 to #21 on sales of 211,749.

Two-week sales for E.L.E., which features the single

href="http://media.addict.com/atn-bin/get-

music/Busta_Rhymes/Gimme_Some_More.ram">"Gimme Some More"

(RealAudio excerpt), total 447,202.

The rest of the top 10: N' Sync, N' Sync (#3); Jewel, Spirit (#4); Celine

Dion, These Are Special Times (#5); Mariah Carey #1's (#6); Backstreet

Boys, Backstreet Boys (#7); Offspring, Americana (#8); Shania Twain,

Come On Over (#9); and Jay-Z, Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life (#10).