Michael Jackson’s return to the front pages did not propel his latest greatest-hits collection to the top of the charts.
Britney Spears’ “In the Zone” will enter the nation’s pop album chart at No. 1 this week after selling 609,000 copies during its first week in the stores, while Jackson’s “Number Ones” finished No. 13, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Spears’ figure was less than half the 1.3 million copies that her “Oops! … I Did It Again” generated in its first week in 2000. The only other albums that achieved greater first-week figures this year were 50 Cent’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” (872,000 copies), Linkin Park’s “Meteora” (810,000) and Clay Aiken’s “Measure of a Man” (613,000).
“Zone” was one of six new releases that entered the Top 20 on Wednesday. The other albums were by Blink-182 (No. 3 with 313,000 sales), the Beatles (a revised version of the group’s 1970 “Let It Be” album finished No. 5 with 280,000), Jackson (No. 13 with 121,000), the Dave Matthews Band (No. 14 with 111,000) and Korn (No. 19 with 96,000).