CHART PREVIEW:
50 CENT MASSACRES RETAIL

It’s been a retail Massacre, all right.

Call it thunder-stealing, shade-throwing, or whatever you want, but 50 Cent has crushed all comers in a show of retail force rarely seen these days. His new album, The Massacre (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) has been selling in rapid fire since its release last Thursday (2/3) and at this point looks like it will have easily moved over a million units once the counting’s done.

Indeed, The Massacre’s number could potentially move as high as 1.1 or 1.2 million, though it’s too early to tell. Regardless, 50 Cent is untouchable on this week’s album chart. Who else could do that and find time to excommunicate someone from his or her crew?

Up until last week, Epic’s Jennifer Lopez had the sales week just ended all to herself and was looking at a #1 debut for her Rebirth. But since Interscope moved up The Massacre, her album has had to take a back seat even though its sales have grown steadily over the course of the week and is now expected to come in at around 250k.

Besides birth- and death-themed albums taking over the #2 and #1 chart postions, respectively (it’s a cycle-of-life thing), several other debuts of note will hit the chart this week:

Jack Johnson’s In Between Dreams (Enjoy/Universal) is looking at this point like 170k-180k.

Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute (Strummer/Universal) could come in as high as 130k. The album has been priced to sell and has been available for as little as $5.99 at Circuit City.

Judas Priest’s Angel of Retribution (Epic) is on track to take its chart bow with around 70k under its studded black leather belt. Interestingly, retailers report that up to 50% of this titles sales may be on the new DualDisc CD/DVD hybrid format.