By RICHARD JOHN --

In a week of powerhouse new releases, it was the long-shot that paid off in the charts.

Buoyed by the incessant - some might say annoying - single Barbie Girl, Aqua's debut album, Aquarium, managed to rise to top spot in in Canada, selling a healthy 24,227 copies, according to SoundScan.

The band's feat is all the more remarkable since it out-sold high-profile new releases by the likes of Boyz II Men, Elton John and Jann Arden.

Mattel can take some of the credit for Aquarium's surge in sales, thanks to their protest over the use of the name Barbie in the album's hit single.

Placing second for the week was the new release by Boyz II Men, with 20,525 copies sold.

Elton John, still high in the public consciousness after his mega-selling tribute to Princess Diana, failed to repeat that success with The Big Picture, his latest album for Rocket/Mercury. The album missed the Top 10, landing at No. 14.

Jann Arden's Happy?, meanwhile, fared a little better, mustering a respectable first-week debut, at No. 7.

Dance and R&B continued to dominate the top 10 with strong showings from Boys II Men (at number 2), Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey and Puff Daddy. The Prodigy's much hyped third album, Fat of the Land sits just outside the top 10 at number 12.

Get out the candles and cake, there are no fewer than nine albums celebrating birthdays - 52 weeks on the chart - in the top 100 this week. They are: Moist's Creature, Sheryl Crow's self-titled second album, Toni Braxton's Secrets, Amanda Marshall's eponymous debut, LeAnn Rimes' Blue, No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, Elton John's Love Songs, Celine Dion's Falling Into You, and Jewel's Pieces of You. The latter sits comfortably at No. 9 in its 52nd week of release.

JAM! | Music | Movies | TV | Theatre | Books | Video | Country | En Francais