THREE Q4 BIGGIES SQUARE OFF

Rock giants Metallica will release their long-awaited new Blackened/Rhino set on 11/18—the same week as superstar Bruno Mars. The pair will square off on the SPS and Album charts, with the rock foursome’s label making a power move and first-week action looking to be in the vicinity of 250k. The manager-less Mars is looking way down from the label forecast of 400k, and appears set to debut in the range of 200-225k.

XO/Republic’s The Weeknd delivers his Starboy on Black Friday (11/25); look for that project to do 400k or so in its opening week.

See below for data on relevant tracks by the three acts.

Metallica, "Hardwired" (released 10 weeks ago)
Song Sales: 47k
Audio Streams: 3.4 million
Video Streams: 2.1m

Metallica, "Moth Into Flame" (released five weeks ago)
Song Sales: 23.5k
Audio Streams: 1.5m
Video Streams: 1.85m

Bruno Mars, "24k Magic" (released three weeks ago)
Song Sales: 198k
Audio Streams: 15.7m
Video Streams: 11.7m

The Weeknd, "Starboy" (released six weeks ago)
Song Sales: 413k
Audio Streams: 111m
Video Streams: 33m

The Weeknd, "False Alarm" (released five weeks ago)
Song Sales: 35k
Audio Streams: 9.3m
Video Streams: 5.5m