CHART GOES INTO
THE RED NEXT WEEK

The Grammy-nominated Nashville Christian hard rock band may well have the #1 album in the U.S. next week, based on one-day retailers who haven’t closed up shop to go party with Charlie Sheen. Until We Have Faces, which is wishful thinking, is slated to sell between 45-50k for Sony’s RED Ink distribution. That’s not only the biggest debut, it will go head to head with Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown holdover Nicki Minaj for the top spot.

Red, sometimes stylized as RED or R3D, has had two previous albums, 2006’s End of Silence and 2009’s Innocence & Instincts, both albums earning Grammy noms for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album.

Sony Music Latin’s Ricky Martin album is the next highest debut, with a projected first-week total of 24-27k, followed by Island/IDJ’s posthumous Bob Marley live album of his last-ever recorded performance, Bob Marley & The Wailers—Live Forever, from Pittsburgh's Stanley Theatre, Sept. 23, 1980, and never officially released in the U.S. until now, with between 21-24k.

Also keep your eyes peeled for indie country group The Civil Wars, a collaboration between Reunion solo act Joy Williams and John Paul White on the sensibility music label. Their new album, Barton Hollow, which has been #1 on iTunes, has a good shot at a Top 20 debut next week, thanks to CMT’s Jay Frank, who took a flyer on the album by putting it into play. Initial estimates look to be in the 15-20k range.

The market was up 1% vs. last week, down 18% vs. same week last year and now down 13% year to date. How happy is Citigroup to be in the record business?