ONE-DAY SALES: BRITNEY SPEARS #1, PINK FLOYD NAILS #2

The word is in: According to early reports from national accounts, Britney Spears will "snake" #1 on next week's chart by a good two to one.

Despite a down market, a delayed tour and the general post-9/11 malaise, the early numbers look like the teen queen's third album, Britney (Jive), will sell between 600k and 700k this week. Sure, that's about half of what her last effort, Oops!… I Did It Again, opened with last year (1.3 million), but it's certainly still a large, large number.

And as Spears made clear with her recent MTV Video Music Awards performance, there's nothing like a big, slimy albino boa constrictor to prove you're dancing to a more mature drummer. That thing was all over her.

And what’s the other big sales debut record buyers are all over this week? Pink Floyd, of course, whose greatest hits set Echoes looks like it'll sell upwards of 300k, as boomers make a stand for a staple of their sonic past. In fact, if you're real quiet, you can almost hear the bongs burbling in rumpus rooms across the nation.

The encouraging Floyd numbers come on the heels of a week that saw two other debuts beating expectations: Michael Jackson's Invincible (Epic) at #1 silenced naysayers who thought the King of Pop was long since mummified, while Enrique's Escape (Interscope) outperformed with a strong #2. While Capitol's last Q4 may only come 1 in a lifetime, this trip to the vault is looking strong indeed.

And during a time when soft sales debuts seem to be more the rule than the exception—Lenny Kravitz and Backstreet Boys being just two of the latest examples—the winners in a tight market tend to stand out all the more.

Another strong start this week is that of Petey Pablo, whose debut album Diary of a Sinner on Jive is breaking out with sales possibly reaching 125k by the end of the week.

Britney. Petey. Pinky. Kind of makes you proud to be an American, don't it? As always, when the above sales projections change, we'll be sure to let you know. And please be advised that, as of this posting, rumors that Britney Spears will star as Sid Barrett in an upcoming Broadway production of The Wall (opposite Deborah Gibson as "Mother") remain unconfirmed.