It's all hip-hop on the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart again, but a

few veteran rock 'n' rollers made splashes this week.

Nas sold another 200,000 copies of I Am... in the week ending Sunday,

allowing the rapper to stay on top of the chart for a second straight week,

according to sales tracker SoundScan.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, meanwhile, scored the week's highest debut

with Echo, their first album in three years, which entered the chart at #10.

Bruce Springsteen's 18 Tracks -- a condensed version of last year's

rarities box set Tracks with three additional tracks -- debuted at #64, and

Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness' solo album Cheating at Solitaire

bowed at #80.

Springsteen, whose album includes a version of the '70s concert favorite

"Rendevous"

(RealAudio excerpt), which remained unreleased before Tracks, began a European

tour earlier this month with the E Street Band; they're scheduled to hit the

United States in July. Petty and the Heartbreakers go on the road in June.

Nas' album, his third, has now sold nearly 700,000 copies in two weeks. It

features "Nas Is Like"

(RealAudio excerpt), which is climbing national radio charts, and "Hate Me Now" (RealAudio

excerpt).

The video for "Hate Me Now" became a source of controversy when hip-hop

star Sean "Puffy" Combs, who appears on it, and his security chief, Paul Offord,

were arrested and charged with assaulting Nas' manager, Steve Stoute.

Combs reportedly was upset at the way he was portrayed in the video. Nas'

label, Columbia, released a new version of the video Monday.

In the #2 and #3 spots for a second straight week were hip-hop soul group

TLC's Fan Mail and pop singer Britney Spears' ...Baby One More

Time. The Spears album sold slightly fewer than 117,000 copies last week

-- the worst week to date for the 2-million-plus selling album.

Cher, who performed on VH1's Divas Live '99 concert April 13 in New York,

leaped back into the top five with Believe, which moved from #12 to #5.

The day before the VH1 concert Cher -- who came to prominence in the '60s as

one half of the pop duo Sonny and Cher -- said she does not view her recent

success as a comeback, nor does she view herself as an influential pop artist.

"I kind of think you don't really add those things up until a later time, even

though 35 years is a long time," she said of her legacy. "I'd rather have it be

added up when I'm finished."

Other debuts this week included techno group Underworld's Beaucoup

Fish at #93 and, in the weakest debut by a No Limit Records artist this year,

in-house producer and singer Mo B. Dick's Gangsta Harmony at #66.

Albums by fellow No Limit artists Silkk the Shocker, Mr. Serv-On and C-Murder

all debuted in the top 15 earlier this year.

Rapper Kid Rock, whose "I Am the Bullgod" continues to garner modern-rock

requests, zoomed from #63 to #36; it has now moved up 46 spots in two weeks.

Another current modern-rock radio staple took a leap forward. Boston-area

rockers Godsmack, whose self-titled debut album has been propelled by the

song "Whatever," moved from #46 to #28.

Rounding out the top 10 were country singer Shania Twain at #4 with Come

On Over, rapper Eminem at #6 with The Slim Shady LP, the

soundtrack to the science-fiction movie "The Matrix" at #7, Italian tenor Andrea

Bocelli at #8 with Sogno and punk-rockers the Offspring at #9 with

Americana.