Youth Pop Gets a Big Spring Break

Despite signs that the youth-pop uprising led by such acts as ‘N Sync and Britney Spears may be losing momentum, there is lots of teen vitality on the pop charts this week.

But that may be largely because school-age music fans with time and money on their hands during spring break gave sales boosts to several of their favorites.

In the new figures released Wednesday by SoundScan, “Now That’s What I Call Music! 6,” a hits compilation featuring recent singles by various acts, including ‘N Sync and Spears, held the No. 1 spot for the second straight week by selling 546,700 copies, up 10% from the previous week.

In addition, teen-pop singer Aaron Carter’s 7-month-old “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” jumped from No. 15 to No. 4, thanks to sales last week of more than 105,000 copies. Retailers said the younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter benefited both from the traditional Easter week sales increase and a Disney Channel music special.

Southland-based teen girl group Dream saw its debut album jump back into the Top 10, up to No. 7 from No. 21 last week. The group was helped by exposure on MTV’s “Total Request Live” program last week that coincided with the release of a new single and video. The album sold more than 91,000 copies.

The other positions on the Top 10 album chart were claimed by Tupac Shakur (No. 2), Shaggy (No. 3), the Dave Matthews Band (No. 5), Ginuwine (No. 6), Dido (No. 8), Lifehouse (No. 9) and Nelly (No. 10).

“It’s a good shopping week,” said Billboard magazine charts director Geoff Mayfield. “ ‘N Sync also had its first sales increase [for the ‘No Strings Attached’ album] since its release a year ago.”

But retailers are already looking forward to two releases coming Tuesday: Janet Jackson’s “All for You” and Tim McGraw’s “Set This Circus Down.” Both artists’ last albums sold more than 3 million copies each.

“I’m sure Janet’s record will do spectacularly well,” says Wherehouse Entertainment senior pop buyer Bob Bell. “That should have a really huge debut.”

Jackson’s latest single, “All for You,” remains No. 1 on the nation’s singles chart.