BRITNEY’S A FIRST-WEEK MILLIONAIRE!
On the basis of first-day returns, Britney Spears' sophomore Jive album, "Oops…I Did It Again," will top next week's charts with a total of 1.1 million in OTC sales according to reports from major retailers. That would put it very close to labelmates the Backstreet Boys' "Millennium," which debuted with first-week sales of 1.1 million, but far behind NSYNC's "No Strings Attached," which did close to 2.5 million its first seven days upon its release March 21.
"Britney's first-day sales were just great," said Best Buy's John Michael, who urged hitsdailydouble.com readers to the "One-Day Sales" part of the Web site for the first-day figures he's legally obligated not to divulge. "Based on our numbers, we think she'll easily break one million for the week, which is well over the forecast. This was all about the set-up. As we've seen before from Jive with both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, they've been able to tie in radio, TV--especially the Saturday Night Live appearance last weekend--and press like the Rolling Stone cover. Now, can you please untie me so I can take this call from Billboard?"
Pearl Jam's new Epic album, "Binaural," looks like it will land in the #2 slot with 200k sold, while Cash Money/Universal rappers Big Tymers look headed for #3 with approximately 175k on their debut, "I Got That Work." Both NSYNC and The "Mission: Impossible 2" soundtrack look like they could beat back the challenges of two other Top Ten newcomers in Whitney Houston, whose Arista "Greatest Hits" package is looking to land in the 130k area, while phish's "Farmhouse" (Elektra) could score in the 125k range.
Wherehouse's Bob Bell stopped holding off pubescent teenagers long enough to add he enjoys the nude JPEGS of Mark Pearson on the hitsdailydouble.com Web site. He also said his chain's Top Four (click here for their "One Day Sales" ) will probably include Spears, DJ Quik, Pearl Jam and Whitney Houston: "Britney was huge yesterday. She should sell over a million this week. The media set-up was massive. Between MTV, Rolling Stone, SNL and my bedroom, she was everywhere this week. We're not shocked or surprised by how big this is. Just very happy. I guess it's time to have her face cover up my Wilson Phillips tattoo."
