Aaliyah Scores One-Two Punch On Chart


R&B Singer Aaliyah is scoring knockouts at the box office and on the charts with the soundtrack for "Romeo Must Die," which comes in at #2 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart this week.

The singer, who stars in the film, also holds down two spots on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart. The Timbaland-produced "Try Again" comes in at #7, while the slinky ballad "I Don't Wanna" drops from #7 to #9. The album, which was knocked out of the #1 slot by rapper Big Punisher's posthumous Yeeeah Baby, also fell from #3 to #5 on the magazine's 200 albums chart. The soundtrack sold 147,415 copies last week and is approaching the 500,000 sales mark, according to SoundScan data released Wednesday.

The movie, in which Aaliyah plays a woman trying to heal a rift between two feuding families, was #7 at the box office last week, grossing $4.4 million. The singer is working on the follow-up to her hit 1996 album, One in a Million. It's tentatively scheduled for an October release, according to a publicist for her label.

Dru Hill singer-gone-solo artist Sisqo held on at #4 on the 200 albums chart but dropped to #5 on the R&B chart with his 1999 debut, Unleash the Dragon. His single, "Thong Song" (RealAudio excerpt), jumped one spot to #5 on the Hot 100 singles chart, though it dropped from #3 to #4 on the R&B singles chart.

"The song started off as a joke," Sisqo said after the Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles last month. "It turned out to be a hit, and now I'm laughing all the way to the bank."

R&B-pop singer Pink debuts on the 200 albums chart at #26. The pink-haired singer's "There You Are" is #12 on the 100 singles chart.

Destiny's Child, who will tour this summer with teen pop singer Christina Aguilera, see their multiplatinum 1999 album, The Writing's on the Wall, rise one spot to #7 on the 200 albums chart, while soul singer Macy Gray's On How Life Is comes right behind it at #8.

Destiny's Child's gold single, "Say My Name," fell to #6 on the R&B chart and #3 on the 100 singles list. Gray's "I Try" comes in at #7 on the Hot 100, while Montell Jordan's sexy "Get It On Tonite" rounds out the top 10 at #10.

Spurred by the single "Mr. Too Damn Good," Gerald Levert's G stayed in the R&B top 10 at #8. The single jumped from #21 to #20 on the R&B singles chart.

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