Santana will continue their unlikely ride as the biggest pop band in the

U.S. as their album Supernatural tops the Billboard 200

albums chart for a third straight week, according to SoundScan sales

figures released Wednesday (Nov. 3).

Supernatural sold 199,007 copies during the week ending Sunday,

making the album's total sales tally 2.3 million copies, according to

SoundScan. The week's sales were enough to hold off a stream of high debuts

from rapper Master P, country singers LeAnn Rimes and Alan Jackson, and

rock bands Stone Temple Pilots and Bush.

When the chart is posted Thursday, this week's top 10 will be Supernatural

(#1), Master P's Only God Can Judge Me (#2), German pop singer Lou

Bega's A Little Bit of Mambo (#3), the Backstreet Boys'

Millennium (#4), teen-pop singer Britney Spears' ...

Baby One More Time (#5), Stone Temple Pilots' No. 4

(#6), rock band Creed's Human Clay (#7), Rimes' LeAnn Rimes

(#8), honky-tonk singer Jackson's Under the Influence (#9) and

thrash-rap band Limp Bizkit's Significant Other (#10).

Santana's star-packed album includes appearances by Dave Matthews, Lauryn

Hill, Eric Clapton and several others. The single "Smooth," featuring Matchbox

20 singer Rob Thomas, is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — it's

the 32-year-old band's first #1 single. Other singles from the LP include

"Maria Maria" (RealAudio

excerpt) and "Put Your Lights On" (RealAudio

excerpt), featuring rapper Everlast.

Only God Can Judge Me is rap entrepreneur Master P's third solo

album in three years, following Ghetto D (1997) and MP da Last

Don (1998). Rappers Nas and Jermaine Dupri appear on it, as do Silkk

the Shocker and Mystikal, who both record for Master P's No Limit Records.

Master P, who has played semi-pro basketball, was cut by the NBA's Toronto

Raptors last week after a monthlong tryout.

The release of Stone Temple Pilots' No. 4 comes while singer Scott

Weiland serves a one-year sentence in Los Angeles for a probation violation

related to drug charges. Bassist Robert DeLeo said in September the band

has learned to deal with Weiland's problems, which cost STP the ability

to tour behind the record.

"I think we we're one of the first bands to come out and say, 'You know

what, our singer doesn't have a sore throat,' " DeLeo said. "[When you're]

dealing with someone who has a drug addiction, you're dealing with two

different people. While they're clean, you're dealing with a real person.

When that person is high, you're not dealing with the same person."

The album's lead track, "Down" (RealAudio

excerpt), is a grungey, raw rocker that has received considerable

airplay on rock radio.

Rimes' new album is loaded with cover tunes, several originally performed

by country pioneers Patsy Cline and Hank Williams. Rimes also covers Kris

Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," made famous in the late '60s by

rock singer Janis Joplin.

Jackson's Under the Influence contains a remake of Jimmy Buffett's

"Margaritaville," with Buffett sharing vocals.

Bush, who previewed the electronica-laced songs from their The Science

of Things this summer at Woodstock '99, will see the new disc debut

at a relatively tame #11. Their last effort, 1996's Razorblade Suitcase,

spent several months in the top 10, and their first LP, Sixteen Stone,

produced the radio staples "Everything Zen," "Glycerine," "Comedown" and

"Machinehead."

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's nostalgic, reflective Looking Forward

— only their third studio album in their 30-year, off-again-on-again

union — will debut at #26. Last month, Young — the off-again-on-again

component of the group — said it was fun to work again with his

three partners, recording their harmony vocals live.

"The whole idea of singing around one mic, it stands for really a lot

with us because in the beginning, that's the way it was done," Young said.

Debuting lower in the chart are career retrospectives by the disbanded

rap group A Tribe Called Quest and the long-absent Alice in Chains. A

Tribe Called Quest's The Anthology, a best-of collection with

member Q-Tip's single "Vivrant Thing" thrown in, will enter the chart at

#81. Alice in Chains' four-CD box set, Music Bank, which includes

a number of unreleased songs and demos plus two new songs, comes in at

#123.

Other debuts will include ghoulish rocker Rob Zombie's remix album

American Made Music to Strip By (#38); soul singer Chico DeBarge's

Game (#41); the Genesis greatest-hits album Turn It On Again:

The Hits, which includes a new version of the song "Carpet Crawlers"

(#65); pop group B*Witched's Awake and Breathe (#91); and the

Clash live album Live: From Here to Eternity, with such punk-era

classics as "The Guns of Brixton," "London Calling" and "The Magnificent

Seven" (#193).

With Stone Temple Pilots, Bush and CSNY records selling well while

Santana remains on top, some may see a rock revival after a pop-dominated

summer.

"I think it's just a matter of the stuff coming out," Frank Youngworth,

head buyer at a Tower Records in Chicago, said. "There have been so many

big-name rock releases. I don't think there's been any shift in taste or

anything.."