*NSYNC: Boy Power

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/07/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Chalk up a good week for *NSYNC, with the boy band breaking two major U.S. sales records with its latest CD, "No Strings Attached." Thanks to teenage fans armed with cash, the new release sold one million copies its first day –- the most ever -- and 2.42 million its first week. This makes "No Strings Attached" the best-selling album release of all time. The high mark also tops the first-week sales record of 1.13 million copies that was established last May by an *NSYNC rival, the Backstreet Boys, with its CD "Millennium." Both bands record for the New York-based Jive Records. Other albums that have sold more than 1 million copies in a week are Garth Brooks's "Double Live" and the movie soundtrack to "The Bodyguard," featuring Whitney Houston. The best-selling albums of all time are Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the Eagles' greatest hits, both of which sold about 25 million copies each.