WEEK IN PREVIEW

(Editor's Note: That was an obtuse older-person holiday reference to a city in Germany where the Beatles got their start and Limp Bizkit once played).

Ahem. Yes, kiddies, holiday sales are up across the board, with a whole lot of titles moving a whole lot of units—though no ONE title is packing the dominant numbers of past years.

However, if there is one band that's stuffing retailers' black lace stockings, it's the Beatles' "1," which appears headed for another week at #1.

"It appears headed for another week at #1," said HITS VP/Retail Guru Mark Pearson as he sniffed the pair of black lace stockings sent to him by Virgin Megastores' Vince Szydlowski (Editor's Note: Gesundheit).

Those other nutty teen dreams, Backstreet Boys, look like they'll finish second in this week's sales derby. The big mover of the week will be MCA's Shaggy, which was making a run at the Top Five as this Pulitzer Prize-winning item was put to bed.

Making a run at Top 20 debuts are Rage Against The Machine, Memphis Bleek and Funkmaster Flex.

In addition, there's big rack activity on young Charlotte Church. "She's young—it'll only get bigger," said Pearson. Speaking of big rack activity, Mark sometimes sports a black lace bra when he's in a frisky mood.

Over in Pop land, where the men are corporate employees and the sheep are nervous, it appears that Sade is finally finding her way to America's airwaves after selling a zillion albums without the venerable format.

HITS Sr. VP/PoMo Editrix Ivana was too cranky to preview the action at her format, but rest assured it's young, cute and pierced in the genital region.