‘Supernatural’ Still Soaring

It’s the same old magic for Santana’s “Supernatural.”

The album that was the toast of the Grammys logged its 12th week at the top of the U.S. album charts by selling 308,000 copies last week. Despite slipping in sales from the previous week’s 343,000, it still nearly doubled the sales of its nearest competitor.

“Supernatural” has now sold 7.8 million copies, making it the third-best selling title released in 1999, trailing only the Backstreet Boys’ “Millennium” (10.4 million) and Britney Spears’ ” . . . Baby One More Time” (9 million).

Want to check out Santana live? Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin will be among the gallery of stars on hand to fete Arista Records and its founder, Clive Davis, at an April 10 gala at the Shrine Auditorium. Seats (ranging from $35 to $500) are still available via Ticketmaster for the event, which is a fund-raiser for AIDS research efforts. The show will be televised May 15 on NBC.

One of the reasons for the continuing Santana sales juice is the success of the latest single from the album, “Maria Maria,” a duet with Wyclef Jean. That song hits No. 1 this week on the singles chart, following in the footsteps of the album’s biggest hit, “Smooth,” which gave Santana its first No. 1 hit last year after 30 years in the business.

Another reason Santana stayed on top: No major new releases hit the stores last week, with the highest-charting debut being Dead Prez’s “Let’s Get Free” at No. 73. The disc from the Florida rap duo of M-1 and stic.man sold 21,500 copies.

The No. 2 album this week is “Unleash the Dragon” from Sisqo, which sold 156,000 copies, and No. 3 is “Dr. Dre 2001” from Dr. Dre, which racked up 142,000 sales.

The biggest mover at the top of the charts was Macy Gray’s album, “On How Life Is,” which jumps three notches to No. 4 with sales of 120,000 copies--actually fewer sales than a week earlier when, against stiffer competition, she landed at No. 10. The R&B-influenced; singer’s album has now sold 1.16 million copies, a lion’s share of them since her Grammy nomination for best new artist was announced in January.