R. Kelly Flies Anew With ‘TP-2.Com’

Grammy winner R. Kelly, whose “I Believe I Can Fly” was one of the pop anthems of the ‘90s, showed he still has commercial wings as his new album entered the nation’s sales chart this week at No. 1.

The R&B; singer-songwriter-producer’s “TP-2.Com” sold 543,000 copies in its first week in stores to wrestle the top spot away from rapper Jay-Z’s “The Dynasty Roc La Familia (2000- ),” which fell to No. 4 this week with sales of 249,000, according to SoundScan.

Look for Ricky Martin to make a strong run at No. 1 next week. The pop star’s “Sound Loaded,” which was released Tuesday by Columbia Records, will sell around 425,000 copies this week, based on the Best Buy retail chain’s usually reliable projections based on first-day sales.

If the figure holds up, it should be enough to claim the top spot, even though it would fall far short of the 660,000 first-week sales of Martin’s last album, 1999’s “Ricky Martin.”

Another contender for the top spot next week is the latest Beatles retrospective. “1,” a collection of 27 No. 1 singles, should sell around 350,000 copies this week, according to Best Buy’s first-day projections. Sade’s “Lover’s Rock” is also off to a fast start and could top 300,000.

In this week’s rock- and rap- dominated Top 10, rap duo OutKast’s “Stankonia” is No. 2 with sales of 288,000, followed by rockers Limp Bizkit’s “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water,” at No. 3 with 257,000. U2’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” rounds out the Top 5 with 173,000.

After R. Kelly, the highest new arrival on the chart was irreverent pop-punkers Blink-182’s live “The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back).” It finished No. 8 with sales of 129,000. Country star Alan Jackson’s “When Somebody Loves You” entered at No. 15.

The Spice Girls’ new album title--”Forever”--may come back to haunt them. The onetime pop sensations’ new collection entered the charts at a decidedly modest No. 39.

Samantha Mumba’s “Gotta Tell You” took over the No. 1 spot on the singles sales chart.