WU-TANG WITH A BANG, BADU, B.G. MAKE INROADS

While the Backstreet Boys' attempt to crack NSYNC's 2.4 million first-week sales record has dominated media attention, the Meaty Cheesy Boys-parody act wasn't the only big-name group to hit retail shelves Tuesday.

Loud/Columbia's Wu-Tang Clan came out hard with "The W," the Staten Island, NY hip-hop collective's first new album since '97's "Wu-Tang Forever," which took in first-week sales of 600k. Based on first-day sales, the new Wu projects to around the 500k mark. The label isn't sure where to send royalties to Ol' Dirty Bastard, however.

Behind the Wu are Tim McGraw's "Greatest Hits" on Curb, headed for "the better part of" 300k in total first-week sales and Motown's Erykah Badu album, "Mama's Gun," her first since ‘97's "Baduizm," looking to do something in the 200-220k range. "Baduizm" debuted to 180k in sales on its way to selling 1.6 million OTC. Cash Money/Universal rapper B.G.'s "Checkmate" looks solid, in the 170k-200k range, while Nine Inch Nails' remix album on nothing/Interscope, "Things Falling Apart," is headed to a respectable 100k in first-week sales.

Others that could reach 100k in sales include Dave Hollister (DreamWorks) and Enya (Reprise).