CD success is what’s new for Pussycats

ADD West Hollywood’s Pussycat Dolls to the long list of Sunset Strip-spawned rock and pop bands that have put albums into the national Top 10. The group’s debut recording, “PCD,” entered the national sales chart at No. 5 after selling 99,000 copies its first week of release.

Unlike such predecessors as the Doors or Guns N’ Roses, whose careers took off after humble beginnings in Sunset Strip clubs, the Dolls didn’t rock their way to the top. The quintet was born as a burlesque act with a revolving celebrity roster that has included Christina Aguilera and Carmen Electra, performing regularly at the Viper Room.

For its recording debut, A&M; Records auditioned young female singer-dancers and hired a choreographer to plan its onstage performances. Despite numerous Pussycat Dolls merchandising tie-ins, label executives say it would be a mistake to call the group Spice Girls wannabes.

“This thing could easily get typed as a piece of pop fluff,” said A&M; Records President Ron Fair, who oversaw the musical aspect of the Dolls’ transformation from a campy cult favorite to mainstream pop success. “Eventually, what we will be judged on is a string of hit records.”

Steve Berman, A&M;’s senior executive of sales and marketing, noted that the group’s first single, “Don’t Cha,” featuring rapper Busta Rhymes, has remained near the top of the singles chart all summer. “The challenge for us is to prove how powerful this group is,” he said.

Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard magazine, said: “I’ll credit [the Dolls] with a successful start. We have to see where it is in a month to judge if it’s a big success.”

This week, seven of the nation’s Top 10 albums are new releases. Houston rapper Paul Wall’s solo debut, “The Peoples Champ,” entered at No. 1, ending the two-week run of Kanye West’s “Late Registration” at the top by selling 176,000 copies its first week in stores, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Paul McCartney’s “Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard” sold 92,000 albums to come in at No. 6, a much stronger showing than his previous solo album, “Driving Rain,” which sold 66,000 copies in its first week in 2001.