THE WEEKND STARTS Q4 EARLY

This is it: The fight for the finish. The run for the roses. The battle for the brass ring. The… OK, we’re running out of sports clichés, but you get the idea.

Q4 may not officially start for another month, but today is the first Friday of the year’s home stretch, as XO/Republic’s The Weeknd scores a monster #1 retail debut for his hit-studded Beauty Behind the Madness, moving 325k on the HITS Album Sales Chart (and, thanks to giant streams and single sales, 415k on our SPS chart).

Consider it the starting bell for the final quarter, as this Pop monster explodes in both sales and streams, powered by a trio of giant singles, “Earned It,” “Can’t Feel My Face” and “The Hills.” We fully expect this Toronto-bred superstar, aka Abel Tesfaye, to be a dominant force for some time.

Monte Lipman, Charlie Walk and team are unlikely to be feeling their faces for some time.

This global-release Friday also sees a very impressive debut from Astralwerks/Capitol’s Halsey, whose 98k sales bow (112k SPS) might well have earned her a #1 berth, had she come out in a different week. As it is, the blue-coiffed breakout will have one of the year’s strongest #2 arrivals as an almost entirely viral phenom—her zeitgeisty single, “New Americana,” is still getting started at radio. Pass the legal marijuana.

Aptly Named’s Ben Rector also bows in the Top 5 with 27k.

Megastars Luke Bryan (Capitol Nashville), #3, and #5 Taylor Swift (now enjoying her fifth smash single from Big Machine juggernaut 1989) also notch up another great week. Swift moves up to #4 on the SPS side.

Bowing in the Top 10 are Sub Pop's Beach House (#6) and Dot/BMLG’s distaff country duo Maddie &Tae (#7).

Greatest gainer honors go to Capitol's Tori Kelly, who shoots to #18 (+165%) after her impressive VMA performance.

Among the albums going on sale worldwide today are releases from Epic's Travis Scott (currently #1 at iTunes) and Prospect Park's Five Finger Death Punch. Based on early reads we could see a three-way race for #1 on next week's chart as these two and The Weeknd fight for prize.

Rest up over this holiday weekend, because it’s about to be full-tilt until Christmas.