IT WON’T BE LONG NOW!!!

The year is so close to being over that we might as well call it done. Hell, we've already hung up our new 2001 calendars—those Joe Lieberman pin-ups may not be kosher, but they sure are hot.

There are no debuts in the Top 10 of the HITS album chart this week. There are no debuts in the Top 20 of the HITS album chart this week. Zzzzzz…Hey, will ya keep it down, we're trying to catch up on our sleep... Oh, yeah, the highest album debuts this week are No Limit/Priority's Master P at #30 and Rawkus' "Lyricist Lounge Vol. 2" at #33. Can we roll Santa for his wallet now?

As sales took the inevitable post-Thanksgiving-weekend downturn, Backstreet Boys still handily whipped all comers, selling 650k copies. And if that's not enough units for Jive, the label can take consolation in the fact that they have Britney Spears at #7, NSYNC at #9 and R. Kelly at #12.

The Beatles, a group popular with the teens of the mid-to-late 1900s, are hanging tough, remaining #2 with 573k. "Now Vol. 5" stays at #3 with 365k. Creed sees a bump thanks to winning four trophies at the My VH1 Music Awards, moving to #4, while Tim McGraw rounds out the Top 5. Yee-haw. Burp. Excuse us.

"Backstreet Boys is amazing. And how 'bout them Beatles and 'Now Vol. 5'? Seems like people want to buy albums with hit songs," said one retailer. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go upsell some blank tapes or I won't make my numbers." Actually, we made up the quote. But that's what some retail geek would've said if we'd cared enough to make a call.

Next week, there'll be more action, with probable big debuts from K-Ci & JoJo, Rage Against The Machine and Funkmaster Flex. But what do we care? We're too busy preparing reindeer burgers out of Rudolph.