The Beatles’ ‘1’ Hits Collection Leaves Backstreet Boys a Bit Black and Blue

The Beatles get back to the top of the charts this week, their “1” hits collection onCapitol Records solidly knocking--not just edging--the Backstreet Boys’ “Black & Blue” out of the No. 1 slot just three weeks after the Backstreet album sold 1.6 million copies in its first week.

But while weekly sales of “Black & Blue” have steadily declined--dropping 57% during its second week and another 21% last week--the Beatles have shown remarkable staying power.

Indeed, with sales of 671,000 last week, according to SoundScan, “1” is not only staying, it’s growing. That’s the highest weekly figure the album has posted since it was released on Nov. 14 and a jump of 10% from last week. Its sales total is now 2.5 million copies.

“I don’t know that we’re surprised, but we’re very happy,” Capitol Records President Roy Lott said Wednesday. “We knew that with the incredible popularity of the Backstreet Boys their record would come in at No. 1. We had just hoped to come back to No. 1 sometime before Christmas. All the feedback we’re getting from retail says they think it will stay at No. 1 through Christmas.”

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The Fab Four benefited from extra attention this month on several fronts: the Dec. 3 airing of the NBC-TV movie “In His Life: The John Lennon Story” and the 20th anniversary of Lennon’s death on Dec. 8, which generated remembrances worldwide. Also, MTV’s all-music video channel MTV2 added six new videos last week--all Beatles clips, according to Lott.

The sales increase additionally reflects the fact that the holiday buying season is now in full swing. Eight of the nation’s Top 10 albums registered sales increases last week, which may make the Backstreet Boys’ decline, to 547,000 copies, seem that much more surprising.

By comparison, Backstreet rival ‘N Sync posted a 12% increase last week for its “No Strings Attached” nine months after it was released, enough to nudge it back into the Top 10.

But in the rarefied sales heights of the Beatles and Backstreet albums, the usual rules don’t apply.

“A 20% drop for an album that’s selling above half a million [copies per week]--that’s nothing,” says Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard magazine. “If I were in the band’s or in Jive Records’ shoes, I would not be upset in the least to see a 20% drop.”

By the same token, the Beatles’ 10% increase is all the more impressive, coming four weeks after it debuted at No. 1.

“A lot of albums debut at No. 1,” says Mayfield, “but only a handful have had increases after debuting at No. 1. . . . The Beatles album has increased [week to week] two out of three times since it’s been out.”

The biggest sales jump--both in raw numbers and percentage--was for British teen singer Charlotte Church’s Christmas album “Dream a Dream.” It sold 204,000 copies last week, a 65% increase that pushed her pop-classical collection from No. 16 last week to No. 7 this week.

The remaining spots in the Top 10 are held by the hits compilation “Now That’s What I Call Music, Vol. 5.” (No. 3), Creed (No. 4), Britney Spears (No. 5), Tim McGraw (6), Limp Bizkit (No. 8), Baha Men (No. 9) and ‘N Sync (No. 10).

Rage Against the Machine’s new “Renegades” album was the highest debuting album of the week, entering at No. 14 on sales of 152,000 copies.

On the singles chart, the first release from Clive Davis’ new J Records label, O-Town’s “Liquid Dreams,” made history on two fronts: It’s the first time a new label has debuted at No. 1 with its inaugural release, and O-Town is the first new artist to debut at No. 1 with its initial single. The quintet’s debut album will be released on Jan. 23.