LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

Yeeeeehaaaaaa! We said it was coming, but you just couldn't see the light at the end of that same old Top Five, which lasted for weeks and permeated your consciousness like the nasty little rash that currently permeates our Editor In Chief's groin.

Yes, folks, it's started. The fall season into the fourth quarter into the holiday buying season!!! Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, monaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!

Sorry, we got a bit carried away. Here's a boring retailer quote.

"Finally, a big week of releases after a very long summer," said Valley Media's Kevin Hawkins, who oddly suffers from the same crotch rot as our Editor In Chief.

Festering lesions aside, the Kev-man is yapping about three Top Five debuts on this week's HITS Top 50 Albums chart, led by Def Jam/IDJ's LL Cool J at #2, Universal's Boyz II Men at #4 and Reprise's Barenaked Ladies at #5.

Top that off with a #11 debut for Jive's Too Short, a #13 bow for Cash Money's "Baller Blockin'" soundtrack and an impressive #19 debut for 143/Atlantic's Corrs and you've got reason for a quote from Wherehouse Music's Violet Brown:

"Three older urban artists dominated the top of our charts this week—LL Cool J, Boyz II Men and Too Short debuted at #1, 2 and3 for us. These three consistent sellers have proven that longevity can still happen within the Urban business. It's kind of unusual in today's climate."

Thank you, Violet—and stay away from Engler and our Editor In Chief. They may be contagious.

Oh, yeah, did we mention that Fo' Reel/Universal's Nelly is STILL #1?

"That's mindboggling," said Engler, scratching his…well, whatever.