It may have seemed, after she reclaimed the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 albums

chart last week, that there was nowhere to go but down for Britney Spears.

But she has managed to go up even from there, with an explosion in sales of ... Baby

One More Time that has given the 17-year-old's debut album an even firmer hold on

the top of the chart this week while putting the album over the 2 million mark in total

sales.

In the week ending Sunday, 272,820 copies of ... Baby One More Time

(RealAudio excerpt of

title track)

were sold, an increase of more than 100,000 copies from the week before,

according to sales tracker SoundScan. The #2 album, soul-pop group TLC's

Fan Mail, sold 197,482 copies.

TLC's album is enjoying strong sales amid speculation -- and a published report in

Vibe -- that the trio are about to break up. Their producer, Dallas Austin, refuted

those claims last week and said, "They're such different people ... [but] they perform

together like they're one person. It's amazing."

Two albums at nearly opposite ends of the music spectrum debuted in the top 10 this

week.

Family Values: The Biggest Show of Stars for '98, a live album chronicling

performances by Korn, Limp Bizkit, Orgy, Ice Cube and others from last year's Family

Values tour, debuted at #7. The album includes live versions of Korn's "Freak on a

Leash," Orgy's New Order cover, "Blue Monday," and Limp Bizkit's George Michael

cover, "Faith."

Debuting at #4, meanwhile, was Sogno, by Andrea Bocelli, the Italian opera

singer who performed with Celine Dion at both the Grammy Awards and the Oscars.

And the soundtrack to "The Matrix" -- the country's #1 movie last weekend -- entered the

chart at #18. The album includes Marilyn Manson's "Rock Is Dead" along with tracks by

Rob Zombie, Rage Against the Machine, Prodigy and Ministry.

Punk rockers the Offspring -- bounced from the top five last month due to strong debuts by

TLC, rapper Eminem and hip-hop group the Roots -- moved back up to #5 with

Americana. The second single,

"Why Don't You Get a Job?"

(RealAudio excerpt), is getting heavy play on rock radio and MTV.

Rounding out the top five is Eminem, whose Slim Shady LP slipped from #2 to #3

this week.

Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill seems to

be losing momentum after a long run at or near the top of the chart. Falling out of the top

5 for the first time since early this year, Miseducation slid to #8 from #4.

Also in the top 10 were country singer Shania Twain's Come On Over (#6), pop

group 'N Sync's self-titled debut (#9) and country trio the Dixie Chicks' Wide Open

Spaces (#10).

Korn's August 1998 album, Follow the Leader, continued inching toward the top

10, skipping from #17 to #15. British girl group B'witched jumped six spots to #12 with

B*Witched, and rock band Sugar Ray leaped 10 spots to #17 with 14:59,

which boasts the top-5 single "Every Morning"

(RealAudio excerpt).

Surging faster than all of them, though, was pop group Five, whose self-titled debut has

zoomed 100 spots to #27 in two weeks.

Approaching oblivion: Sammy Hagar's Red Voodoo dropped 30 spots to #52 in

its second week in stores. Rapper Cool Breeze's Eat Points Greatest Hits

plummeted from #38 to #91, and British rock band Blur's 13 fell to #120 after

debuting last week at #80.