NOTHING LUDACRIS ABOUT RAPPER'S FIRST-DAY SALES

With an upbeat Thanksgiving weekend boosting the beleaguered biz's morale, Def Jam South/IDJ rapper Ludacris hopes to keep the big Q4 momentum going with the release of his sophomore album Word of Mouf.

Based on first-day reports from retailers around the country, the album is looking at sales in the 250-275k range, which should translate into a Top 5 bow. The rapper's debut album, last year's Back for the First Time, sold 130k its first week on the way to 2.6 million in total sales. The single from the new record, "Rollout," has been getting consistent Top 10 airplay at mix shows and Top 25 at Crossover radio.

Busta Rhymes' J Records debut, Genesis, is on target for sales in the 175-200k range, giving it a likely Top 10-15 bow. The record's been fueled by mix show success of the first single, "Break Ya Neck." His previous album, June 2000's Anarchy, for Elektra, sold 170k its first week, though it peaked at 650k in sales.

The other prominent new release of the week, Columbia's Concert For New York City, appears headed for the 80k-100k range based on first-day sales, but is the type of album that could climb higher after another holiday shopping weekend, according to retail sources.

Next Tuesday's slate, includes Cypress Hill, Fat Joe, Nate Dogg, Mack 10, a Limp Bizkit remix set and greatest hits discs from Ice Cube, Cher, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond and OutKast.