WEEK IN PREVIEW:
CAN JANET TOP USHER?

That’s the question at the top of the Album Chart this week as Janet Jackson’s debuting Damita Jo (Virgin) goes up against Usher’s Confessions (LaFace/ZLG) after its million-plus debut last week. “Yeah,” the ubiquitous Usher single featuring Ludacris and Lil’ John, fueled his monster debut week, and second single "Burn" is catching fire too. But Janet has had a lot of, um, exposure in the past two months. Also, she had a full schedule of TV appearances over the week. Usher appears to have the upper hand.

Reports from retail have Usher outpacing Janet headed towards 500k, with Janet just shy of 400k, and this one could come down to the wire. Keep checking back on the Building Album Sales chart like the obsessive-compulsive person you are, though you may notice that there are no stills from her Super Bowl appearance on that page.

Also debuting this week are Lil’ Flip (Sucka Free/Columbia) which is headed towards 200k, Aerosmith’s blues album (Columbia) which is on target for 150k, Eric Clapton’s blues album (Reprise) looking like 110k, J-Kwon’s not blues album (So-So Def/ZLG) approaching 110k, and Michael Buble’s not blues album (143/Reprise) landing in the 60-70k range.

It could be the breast week ever.