One of Ricky Martin's collaborators, producer/songwriter Desmond Child, predicted last

week the Puerto Rican pop singer's English-language debut would be "the

Thriller for the next millennium."

Martin has an awfully long way to go before catching Michael Jackson's 1982

blockbuster, which has sold 25 million copies in the U.S. But he made a good start of it

last week, selling 660,807 copies of Ricky Martin -- the highest one-week sales of

any album this year -- according to sales tracker SoundScan.

The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, crushing its closest

competitor, rapper Snoop Dogg's No Limit Top Dogg, which debuted at #2 with

sales of 187,389. It was the first Snoop Dogg album not to debut at #1.

Martin, 27 and a former member of Latino pop group Menudo, also has the #1 single on

the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the salsa-flavored

HREF="http://media.addict.com/atn-bin/get-music/Martin,_Ricky/Livin_La_Vida_Loca.ram">"Livin' la Vida Loca"

(RealAudio excerpt).

He has released four Spanish-language solo albums and won a Grammy Award for Best

Latin Pop Performance this year for the album Vuelve, which dropped from #41 to

#59 this week.

Child said he and Robi Rosa, another former member of Menudo, wrote "Livin' la Vida

Loca" in a three-day marathon. "It had the humor and the wit and the coolness that Ricky

has," Child said. "He kind of put it all together."

The album also includes "Be Careful (Cuidado con Mi Corazon)," a duet with Madonna.

Martin is on the cover of this week's Time magazine, which includes a story on the

wave of Latin pop hitting record stores. The article also spotlights actress Jennifer Lopez,

whose debut album comes out next month.

The previous best one-week sales for an album this year was for rapper Nas' I

Am, which sold 471,000 copies in April during its first week of release. That album,

which has sold more than 1 million copies, is at #10 this week.

First-week sales of No Limit Top Dogg paled compared to those of Snoop Dogg's

first album for No Limit Records, Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told, which

came out in August. That one sold 524,000 copies in a week.

For the new album, which includes

"Just Dippin' " (RealAudio excerpt), the

26-year-old rapper said he made a conscious effort to return to the laid-back style of his

first two albums, 1993's Doggystyle and 1996's The Doggfather. Both

debuted at #1.

"The word I was getting on the street was that this Game Is to Be Sold album, it

sounded too South," Snoop Dogg said. "It ain't got no West Coast sh-- on it. So for those

West Coast people, this album is basically to shut y'all the f--- up."

The next highest debut came from veteran country-pop singer Kenny Rogers, whose

She Rides Wild Horses entered the chart at #60.

Last week's #1, country singer Tim McGraw's A Place in the Sun, slipped to #4

this week. Soul-pop group TLC, which spent six weeks at #1 this winter and spring,

remained in the top three with Fan Mail, which sold 143,559 copies. Fan

Mail has sold more than 2 million copies since its release in February.

Kid Rock and Godsmack continued to move toward the top 10. Devil Without a

Cause by Kid Rock, who raps over heavy-metal music, moved up one spot to #14,

continuing three months of steady climbing. Hard-rockers Godsmack's self-titled debut

rose from #25 to #22.

Rounding out the top 10 were country singer Shania Twain's Come on Over at #5;

pop singer Britney Spears' ... Baby One More Time at #6; the

compilation Ruff Ryders: Ryde or Die Vol. 1, featuring Jay-Z, DMX and other

rappers, at #7; the soundtrack to "Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace," which

opened Wednesday (May 19), at #8; and country trio the Dixie Chicks' Wide Open

Spaces at #9.