Lilith Fair founder and performer Sarah McLachlan has more than her highly successful summer festival to sing about this week.

McLachlan is the latest artist to debut onto the Billboard album charts in a major way. Her fifth album Surfacing made an inaugural showing at #2, based on sales of 161,000, according to SoundScan. By contrast, the Canadian songstress' last album, Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, opened at

#109 back in 1994.

But that's not all the organizer of the all-women rock fest has to be happy about. Taken together, the total top 10 sales by the women of Lilith beat out the much hyped Men In Black movie soundtrack, even though it held the number one position for a second week in a row.

Among Lilith's feature performers to grace the top 10 is pop/folk rocker Jewel. Her Pieces of You album -- released almost two-and-a-half years

ago -- sold 63,000 copies in one week, placing it right at #10. Sales were no doubt boosted by Jewel's recent cover appearances on Time and

Interview magazines, as well as the positive press that the Lilith Fair has garnered, with most media reports labeling it the most interesting tour in the summer's glutted music festival market.

At the top of the chart, the Men In Black soundtrack aced all other

contenders for the second week standing. Led by the return of rapper Will

(Fresh Prince) Smith, the album sold 168,000 copies, while the film itself

ruled the box office roost for a third straight week.

Missy Elliott snared this week's only other top 10 debut. The R&B

chanteuse's Supa Dupa Fly moved 131,000 units, placing it at #3.

The future of electronica in America also received a boost this week, as

the Prodigy's Fat of the Land disc took another giant step toward gold

status (500,000 copies sold). In its third week of release, the album slipped from #3 to the #5 slot after selling 110,000 more copies, for a total sales of 436,000.

That's an outstanding number considering the band has risen from virtual obscurity outside techno circles. If the album goes platinum (sales

of 1 million) as many in the industry expect, they would have accomplished a major musical feat that has eluded other bands in that genre. It will also make them destined for musical history as they almost single-handedly attempt to break electronica into the American mainstream.

In addition, two acts passed significant milestones this week. Hanson,

landing at #6, went platinum with Middle of Nowhere, which sold 103,000 copies. The Spice Girls, who have held strong in the top 10 list for weeks, passed the triple platinum mark on sales of 125,000 (#4 on the charts).

Filling in the rest of the top 10 were: God's Property (#7), Tim McGraw

(#8) and the Wallflowers (#9).