Net-savvy fans of the Lox such as Jonathan Marshal were baffled that one of

their favorite hip-hop acts didn't follow the lead of fellow Puff Daddy protégé

Mase to the top of the charts this past week.

Instead, the album finished a distant third to the Billboard's top dog, the

Titanic soundtrack. "Given how much people like [Puff Daddy's] '(It's All

About) The Benjamins,' " Marshal, a 19-year-old Los Angeles-based hip-hop

fan, wrote in an e-mail, "I can't believe they ain't #1!"

For a second consecutive week the soundtrack to the mega box-office smash

"Titanic" sold better than any album. In fact, it seems everyone who picked up

the Titanic album when it was released two weeks ago told two friends,

both of whom took that recommendation to heart.

According to SoundScan, which records sales, the Titanic soundtrack

sold 419,000 copies last week, nearly double its first week's sales. Record stores

across the U.S. report that they have repeatedly sold out of the soundtrack, the

first score-based soundtrack to hit #1 since 1982's Chariots of Fire, and

classical-only stores, such as Harmony House Classical in Berkeley, Mich.,

have seen a sales boost because of the high demand. "We definitely have

seen more people than usual in here looking for it," said Jennifer Baker, 28, a

store employee. "Some people just want the soundtrack, some people are

picking up other CDs as well."

Meanwhile, the Lox, who have also made a name for themselves by appearing

in a remix of pop star Mariah Carey's "Honey" and on the Puff Daddy & The

Family tour, moved 110,000 copies of their major label debut, Money, Power

and Respect, out of stores.

The week's other releases of note have one thing in common: Both are CDs

that are compilations of rare material. North Carolina piano-rockers Ben

Folds Five's Naked Baby Photos, a collection of live recordings and B-sides released by their first record company, attracted the attention of enough

die-hard fans to land at #94. On the funkier end of the scale, enough hip-hop

heads gave up their search for the original copies of DJ Shadow's early work

and picked up Preemptive Strike, also a CD filled with rare tracks, and

helped to land the collection at # 118.

The Verve's decision to allow their hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony" to be used in a

Nike commercial didn't seem to hurt marketing of the LP. Rather, the exposure

seems to have given a huge boost in sales to their critically acclaimed Urban

Hymns, as the album jumped nearly 40 spots on the chart, moving from #70

to #36. Indian-influenced Brit-poppers Cornershop also saw upward movement

last week, as their critically acclaimed 1997 album, When I Was Born For The

7th Time, which made its chart debut two weeks ago at #169, moved up this

week to #144. Marcy Playground also continued a climb upward, inching

closer to the top 20 by bumping up from #42 to #34.

The rest of the best: Celine Dion (#2), Backstreet Boys (#4), Usher (#5),

Spice Girls (#6), Chumbawamba (#7), Matchbox 20 (#8), Garth Brooks (#9) and

LeAnn Rimes (#10).

Color="#720418">[Wed., Jan. 21, 1998, 6 p.m. PST]