Britney Spears Scores Third No. 1 In A Row With Britney

NEW YORK (AP) - As expected, Britney Spears' latest effort, Britney, cleaned up the competition in its first week of release, selling 745,744 copies to become this year's second best-selling album in its first week out of the gates.
Britney Spears' new album debuted at the top of U.S. sales charts, making her the first female solo act to reach No. 1 with her first three albums. The 19-year-old pop teen queen's new album "Britney" sold 745,744 copies in the week ended Nov. 11, usurping the sales figure crown from Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed "King of Pop," according to SoundScan, which tracks retail music sales.

Britney's numbers fell considerably short of 'NSync's Celebrity, which sold 1.88 million in its first week in July, and Spears' last album, Oops! � I Did It Again, which hit No. 1 in May of 2000 on the strength of 1.3 million in first week sales.

Still, the album marks Spears' third No. 1 in a row, as Baby One More Time also hit the top spot 1999 with just over 120,000 in first-week sales.

Elsewhere in the top 10, Pink Floyd's Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd debuts in the No. 2 spot while George Strait's Road Less Traveled landed at No. 9. Michael Jackson's Invincible slipped to the No. 3 spot after one week at No. 1 (with sales of 202,341 copies this past week, its second week in stores, down from 366,272 units in its first week of release). Additional top 20 debuts this week included Petey Pablo's Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry (No. 13); Faith Evans' Faithfully (No. 14); and the soundtrack to The Wash, featuring Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and D12 (No. 19).

Other notable debuts include Angie Stone's Mahogany Soul (No. 22); Third Day's Come Together (No. 31); Tony Bennett's Playin' With My Friends: Bennett Signs the Blues, with guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and B.B. King (No. 50); Outlawz' Novakane (No. 100); and Flickerstick's Welcoming Home the Astronauts (No. 151).