Gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg's Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told held tight in the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the second week in a row, according to SoundScan.

In remaining atop the chart during his album's first two weeks of release, Snoop accomplished a rare feat for artists on Master P's No Limit Records label. No Limit artists commonly debut high and then see their chart position plunge in their second week of release.

Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told sold 246,000 copies in the week ending Aug. 16, bringing Snoop's total sales on this latest project up to 770,000, according to SoundScan, a company that tracks record sales week to week. The album, which features "Gin and Juice II" (RealAudio excerpt), has been harshly judged by critics and is currently without a hit single or video.

However, the album is achieving even greater success than similarly panned albums from other No Limit artists, such as Kane & Abel and Fiend. Snoop's latest is his first release with No Limit, after his contentious defection from the Los Angeles-based gangsta-rap label Death Row Records earlier this year.

The top three spots on the charts remain unchanged from last week as Armageddon -- The Album stayed hot on the Dogg's tail at #2 and the Beastie Boys' platinum-selling Hello Nasty held its #3 spot to boost its total sales to 1.6 million.

The highest debut of the week belonged to hip-hop disc jockey Funkmaster Flex, whose mix project, The Mix Tape Volume III, landed at #4 on sales of 123,000. Flex was joined in the top-10 debut club by the soundtrack to the film "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," which features new tracks from such R&B artists as Mary J. Blige, K-Ci & JoJo and Boyz II Men; the soundtrack landed at #10 on sales of 91,000 copies.

Coming in just shy of the top 10 was San Francisco Bay Area hip-hop veteran E-40, whose double CD The Element Of Surprise sold 78,000 copies to debut at #13. For E-40 (born Earl Stevens), landing out of the top 10 with an album that boasts a hit single in "Hope I Don't Go Back" (RealAudio excerpt) and appearances by Busta Rhymes, Master P and K-Ci & JoJo might seem like a disappointment, but he was quick to point out recently that his deal with Jive Records nets him more money than most other artists.

"The way my deal is set up," he explained, "I make as much money selling 200,000 as most make when they sell a million." "I'm proud of all my albums," he continued, "but when they go gold or platinum now, they're just another trophy to put on my wall."

Other notable debuts in the upper regions of the charts include R&B crooner Luther Vandross' I Know at #26 on sales of 48,000 and alt-rocker Liz Phair's highly anticipated whitechocolatespaceegg, which landed at #35 after selling 39,000 copies. Wu-Tang Clan associates Killarmy checked in at #40 with Dirty Weaponry, while Gang Starr protégés M.O.P.'s First Family 4 Life settled in at #80.

Further down the charts, funk-rockers Primus saw their collection of covers and live songs, entitled Rhinoplasty, come in at #106. The album, which features a cover of heavy-metal rockers Metallica's "The Thing That Should Not Be," moved 13,000 copies; enough to outpace new wavers Culture Club's VH1 Storytellers/Greatest Hits, which bowed at #148.

In non-debut news, the hot-jazz revivalist movement was still in full swing, as the Brian Setzer Orchestra's The Dirty Boogie (#18) saw a sales leap from 60,000 last week to 70,000 this week, bringing their total to 367,000. Another contender in the movement, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, saw a sales drop, but held tight on the charts, with their Zoot Suit Riot going gold (more than 500,000 copies sold) while slipping from #20 to #25. Meanwhile, a genre compilation entitled Swing This, Baby!, which sports tracks from Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Brian Setzer Orchestra, among others, debuted at #156.

It was another good week for soundtracks on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with four of the top 10 albums coming from summer films. Meanwhile, the successful release of "The Wedding Singer" on home video continues to send its two soundtracks charging up the charts. The first pop-reggae edition, which houses songs from the Police and Musical Youth, leapt from #72 to #39, while the second new wave-flavored volume, with tracks from A Flock of Seagulls and Dead or Alive, climbed from #42 to #22.

The rest of the top 10: Barenaked Ladies, Stunt (#5); 'N Sync, 'N Sync (#6); Various Artists, Dr. Dolittle: the Album (#7); Various Artists, City Of Angels soundtrack (#8); and Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys (#9).