NEXT WEEK’S CHART: SAME AS IT EVER WAS

Epic Records Group's "NOW Vol. 6" will continue to top the album charts next week, but its reign should be short-circuited by the April 24 release of Janet Jackson's eagerly anticipated "All The Way."

Meanwhile, this week is a slow one for new releases, with only Ani DiFranco's two-CD release on her own Righteous Babe label, "Revelling/Reckoning," registering, with one-day sales indicating it could do around 40k for its first week, which would place it somewhere in the Top 50.

Of course, since she doesn't share the revenue with a major label, she should end up taking home the same amount of cash as someone who sold three or four times that amount.

The only other albums in retail crosshairs are Monster Magnet's "God Says No" (A&M), which is headed for 15k in first-week sales, and rapper Slimm Calhoun's "The Skinny," an OutKast protege whose Aquemini/Elektra release could approach 20k in sales.

Soulife/Atlantic's Macy Gray-managed Sunshine Anderson's "Your Woman," which hits the streets of April 17, is the top release for next week, with industry pundits expecting a Top 10 bow on the April 24 charts.

Tupac Shakur and Shaggy continue to show strength, and will undoubtedly remain in the Top 5 next week as well.