BIZKIT ANYTHING BUT LIMP
Sales were boosted in part by national retailer Best Buy's decision to sell the record below cost at $9.99, but the rest of the nation's retailers were still hitting (and in most cases, surpassing) their target numbers.
The album's million-plus opening week makes it the third album to top that mark this year, with NSYNC (2.4 million) and Eminem (1.7 million) the only competition.
Valley Media's Jerry Suarez said his Halloween treat came a week early this year, and Limp pulled the trick: "This is the official opening of the buying season. This isn't just about first-day sales. The re-orders have been huge. We expected this to be a big record, but it's much bigger than we anticipated."
The band launched their "Anger Management" tour, featuring Eminem, Papa Roach and Xzibit (see hitsdailydouble.com for a review of the show) at N.J.'s Continental Airlines Arena with two sold-out shows over the weekend.
The label's two-pronged singles approach has helped the album take off, but the promotional strategy will now concentrate on "Rollin'."
Also hitting the charts tomorrow will be Ludacris, the first LP from the new Def Jam South imprint helmed by rapper Scarface, with more than 100k units for the week. Other strong releases include Tommy Boy's Everlast and Rawkus/Priority's new Talib Kweli and HITEK, which should both do in the neighborhood of 50k units apiece.
