SALES ARE HOPPING:
HOLIDAY WEEKEND BREAKS RECORDS AND EGGS

To retail's delight, the long holiday weekend gave consumers time to crack open their wallets as well as eggs. Sales were hopping, with Jive's NSYNC getting a 50% bump over last week. Juicing the surge was huge action at the racks. Which begs the question: Who are all these people grabbing up "No Strings Attached" five weeks out, and how come we don't know any of them?

There's more to Jive than teenpop—the label also notched the #2 record with soulster Joe, which moved an astounding 275k in its first week. Who knows how many more he would've sold if he had a last name?

"Jive continues to deliver the goods, with Joe and NSYNC #1 and #2 on our charts this week," said Ken Feldman of HMV. "And they deliver in under 30 minutes or your next pizza is free."

The other big debut was from smooth crooner Carl Thomas (Bad Boy/Arista), who bowed at #12 with his "So Emotional" moving buyers to the tune of 100K+. "It was a great week for big debuts," said Feldman. "Joe, Carl Thomas and my off-Broadway play, ‘The Napster Monologues,' also opened. We're really expecting both Joe and Carl Thomas to have a lot of sales stamina through the summer. Like I do now after a daily dose of Viagra."

Speaking of stamina, #5 Destiny's Child (Col/CRG), #7 Christina Aguilera (RCA) and #8 Creed (Wind-Up) are all gaining momentum on the strength of new singles. Only one of them is feuding with Eminem, however, and that's what really matters. Sisqo (Dragon/Def Soul/IDJ) and Santana (Arista) remain at #3 and #4, respectively.

The other notable debut was Pink Floyd's "Is There Anybody Out There (Live)" (Columbia/CRG), floating in at #16, proving you're never too old to repackage. Think Top 40 will play "Another Brick In The Wall" this time?