ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP ROCK

New Combs Album Tops the Charts

Regardless of what name he chooses to go by professionally, Sean Combs continues to be a commercial force in pop.

The entrepreneur-producer-performer, who once was Puff Daddy and now calls himself P. Diddy, entered the national sales chart at No. 1 on Wednesday with his latest album, “We Invented the Remix.”

The collection, which sold 256,000 copies last week, was one of five new arrivals in the Top 10. The others: Cam’ron’s “Come Home With Me” (No. 2), Weezer’s “Maladroit” (No. 3), Moby’s “18” (No. 4) and Rush’s “Vapor Trails” (No. 6). Lauryn Hill’s “MTV Unplugged No. 2.0,” a solo, acoustic, two-disc live set, suffered the biggest drop of last week’s Top 10. In its second week in stores, the album fell 11 places to No. 14. The nation’s best-selling single remains ‘N Sync’s pairing with Nelly on “Girlfriend.”

‘N Sync’s Bass a Finalist for Soyuz Space Trip

Lance Bass of ‘N Sync is competing with a former NASA official for the next seat on a Russian spacecraft. The singer has reportedly secured the support of a Los Angeles TV production company, Destiny Productions, to help fund his bid, and film the training and trip for a TV special.

Dmitry Malashenkov, spokesman for Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems, said Tuesday that Bass, 23, and ex-NASA employee Lori Garver were undergoing medical tests at the Moscow center to evaluate their ability to handle space travel. The results will be forwarded to a state commission that will deliver a final report.

Russia’s space agency continued to express reservations that complicated contractual negotiations would proceed quickly enough for a space tourist to participate in October’s blast-off to the International Space Station. Still, it is holding one seat open in the three-person Soyuz spacecraft, alongside Russian flight commander Sergei Zaletin and European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne of Belgium, for as long as possible, it said.

MUSIC

Adams to Succeed Boulez at Carnegie Hall

John Adams, who has written operas about Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China and the terrorist killing of Leon Klinghoffer, will hold Carnegie Hall’s “composer’s chair” beginning with the 2003-04 season, succeeding Pierre Boulez.

The New England-born composer, who will serve a three-year term, will help develop artistic initiatives and plans for Carnegie Hall’s stages, focusing on Zankel Hall, which opens in September 2003.

This September, the world premiere of Adams’ “On the Transmigration of Souls,” with texts drawn from cell-phone calls and other firsthand accounts of the terrorist attacks last Sept. 11, will be performed as part of the New York Philharmonic’s opening-night program.

QUICK TAKES

All four members of the U.S. rock group Alien Ant Farm were hospitalized in Spain on Wednesday after their bus collided with a truck, killing their driver.... An exhibition of artwork by Paul McCartney--more than 70 paintings, wood sculpture and photos--opens in his hometown at Liverpool’s Walker Gallery on Friday. It is the UK’s first comprehensive exhibition of his work.... Ten-time Gram- my-winner Bobby McFerrin will receive the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America tonight at Johns Hopkins University.