He didn't quite hit the lofty heights he was shooting for, but DMX still scored big first week sales for his "And Then There Was X," which will debut at number one on next week's "Billboard" album chart.

The rapper's record label had hoped to sell more than one million copies of the album in week one (see "DMX Changes New LP Title, Shoots For Million-Selling Debut Week"), but DMX actually racked up sales of more than 698,000 copies in the CD's first week in stores according to SoundScan sales figures.

The hard-hitting hip-hop icon sends Celine Dion tumbling down to number two for the week, as the Canadian diva's "All The Way: A Decade Of Song" sold more than 640,000 copies in its sixth week in stores.

The new posthumous release from the late Tupac Shakur scores a top ten debut as well as "Still I Rise," the rapper's album with the Outlawz, debuts at number seven after selling more than 408,000 copies.

The week's other notable debut comes courtesy of Goodie M.O.B. who land at number 56 after selling more than 92,000 copies of its "World Party."

Overall, this week's SoundScan sales report sees the industry enjoying yet another week of holiday cheer as 79 of the 100 top selling titles saw their sales increase yet again over the previous week.

-- Robert Mancini