Pearl Jam Takes Five Spots in the Top 200

Rapper Mystikal leads a parade of seven new albums debuting this week in the nation’s Top 20, while Pearl Jam carves out a spot in music history with five of the band’s new concert albums arriving in the Top 200.

The No. 1 spot on the sales chart belongs to Mystikal’s “Let’s Get Ready . . . ,” the fifth album from the New Orleans rapper. It sold 331,000 copies, easily outpacing the No. 2 disc, “Revelation” by 98 Degrees, which sold 276,000 copies in its debut week.

Pearl Jam made a memorable mark on this week’s chart by having five separate albums debut in the Top 200 in one week, a first in music history. The rock band released 25 double-disc live albums last week, each culled from a different stop on its recent European tour.

The show in Katowice, Poland, charted the highest--it hit No. 103 with sales of 14,000--and was followed by two Italy shows, Milan at No. 125 and Verona at No. 134, then the London disc at No. 137 and Hamburg, Germany, at No. 175. The five albums sold a combined 54,000 copies last week, on top of the 70,000 the band reports it has sold through its Web site since early September. The novel approach gave the band another claim to fame--they become the first act ever to have more than one live album in the Top 200 at once.

Back at the top of the charts, last week’s No. 1 album, Madonna’s “Music,” slides to No. 3 after just one week in the top spot.

Joining Mystikal and 98 Degrees with Top 10 debuts this week are first-time releases from rappers Shyne and Lil’ Bow Wow. “Shyne” sold 160,000 copies to take the No. 5 spot, while 13-year-old Lil’ Bow Wow claims No. 8 with his “Beware of the Dog,” which features the hit “Bounce With Me.”

A pair of country singers debut albums at No. 13 and No. 15. A greatest hits collection from Kenny Chesney sold 85,000 copies its first week to land two notches ahead of John Michael Montgomery’s “Brand New Me,” which sold 76,000 units.

Lil’ Bow Wow isn’t the only adolescent artist hitting the charts this week: Aaron Carter, the 12-year-old brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, opens at No. 16 with his first album, “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which sold 69,000 copies.