According to sales figures released by SoundScan on Wednesday, Bad Boy Records' hard core rapper sold close to 178,000 copies of his "Life Story" in its first week in stores. The strong first week sales put the album at number three on next week's "Billboard" album chart.

Black Rob was second only to country veteran George Strait in the race for biggest new release of the week. Strait sold just under 182,000 copies of his new greatest hits collection, "Latest Greatest Straitest Hits," to land at number two.

Of course, the rest of the music world is still playing runner-up to Santana, as that band's "Supernatural" holds on to the number one spot next week. The Grammy-magnet sold another 343,000 copies, bringing its 39-week total to just under 7.5 million.

Gerald Levert was the only other artist to crack the top ten in his

first week out, selling 122,000 copies of his "G" to land at number eight.

The week's other notable debuts include jazz vocalist Al Jarreau's "Tomorrow Today" at 137 and Ffh's "Found A Place" at 154.

Despite the surge of new chart blood last week, only one of the new releases that cracked the top ten will actually remain there. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's "Btnhresurrection" slips to number five next week after debuting at number two this week. Meanwhile, Smashing Pumpkins, Beanie Sigel, Steely Dan, and AC/DC all drop out of the top ten next week after debuting there this week.