For Matthews, No. 1 Debut Is an ‘Everyday’ Occurrence

Albums don’t debut at No. 1 every day, but the Dave Matthews Band has pulled it off for the second time with “Everyday,” which blew away all competition to enter the nation’s album chart at the top.

“Everyday” sold 733,000 copies in the week that ended Sunday, according to SoundScan, slightly shy of last week’s ambitious estimate of 850,000 by one major retail chain, but still almost half a million copies ahead of Shaggy’s “Hotshot,” which drops one notch after four weeks at No. 1.

“We all expected it to debut at No. 1, but this number is really, really strong,” says Bob Bell, Wherehouse Entertainment senior pop buyer. “I think this has far exceeded what most people’s expectations were for the record.”

Look for the group to stay at No. 1 awhile too.

“It’s continuing to be strong and probably will be our No. 1 record again [next] week,” says Bob Feterl, Tower Records Southwest territory director. “The whole Matthews catalog is doing great in all the stores.”

By all accounts, the Matthews Band succeeded in expanding its already large and loyal fan base with “Everyday” by enlisting hit producer-songwriter Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, No Doubt) to collaborate with Matthews.

“I would absolutely expect this record to be around for a good 18 months or more,” Bell says. “Obviously there will be a significant drop-off the second week, just because Matthews’ fan base is so strong that an enormous number of highly motivated fans rush out to buy it the first week. But this kind of record I expect to be around for a long time.”

DMB’s previous album, “Before These Crowded Streets,” also debuted at No. 1 in 1998 when it sold 422,000 its first week. It was the album that ended the “Titanic” soundtrack’s 16-week reign at No. 1.

“Everyday’s” first-week sales are the highest since Backstreet Boys’ “Black & Blue” rocketed out of the starting gate in November with 1.6 million copies in its first week. It’s also the highest single-week figure since the Beatles’ “1” hits compilation hit a one-week peak of 1.2 million copies just before Christmas.

Two rappers placed new albums in the Top 10, DJ Clue’s “Pt. 2-Professional,” entering right behind Shaggy’s 269,000 sales with a figure of 239,000, while Memphis-based Project Pat’s “Mista Don’t Play” checked in at No. 4 on sales of 126,000 .

Project Pat is riding high with the help of the single “Chickenhead,” a lively man-woman war of words for which Pat enlisted another Memphis rapper, La Chat, to provide the woman’s point of view.

“I think Project Pat is going to be bigger than a lot of people might have thought,” says Tower’s Feterl. “The kids really like that [‘Chickenhead’] record, and I think the album’s going to be very big.”

Adds Wherehouse urban buyer Violet Brown, “Project Pat is a big Southern thing--he’s part of Three 6 Mafia, and they’re huge in the South. We knew it was going to be strong, but it may have come as a surprise to some people who are not aware of the success of Three 6 Mafia or of how well Southern rap has been selling.”

Pearl Jam also scored well with the latest round of its multiple live album releases, covering East Coast dates of the band’s North American tour.

Of the 23 double albums that hit stores last week, seven sold well enough to chart in the Top 200, eclipsing Pearl Jam’s previous record--five--for an artist placing new albums in the Top 200 in the same week. It also puts the group in the company of the Beatles, the Monkees and U2 for the most albums--seven--on the chart simultaneously.

The next round of Pearl Jam live shows to be released will cover the West Coast leg of its 2000 tour, and those will be released March 27.

“I’d hate to see that become a trend, because it’s hard to merchandise,” says Tower’s Feterl. “It’s too unwieldy.”

Aerosmith’s new “Just Push Play” was released Tuesday and is projected by the Best Buy chain to have first-week sales nationally of 200,000 based on Best Buy’s first-day results. That should easily give it a Top 10 debut next week, but doesn’t appear to pose a serious challenge to the Matthews Band’s hold on the No. 1 position.

The other spots in the Top 10 were held by Dido, the Beatles, the “Save the Last Dance” soundtrack, Ja Rule, Jim Johnston’s WWF music and Lenny Kravitz.

Vocal group 112’s “It’s Over Now” jumped into the No. 1 spot as the nation’s best-selling single, knocking out Joe’s “Stutter” after five weeks in that position.