ONE-DAY SALES: NSYNC SALES
ARE NSANE!!!

They’re a hard act to follow, even for themselves, but follow they must. It’s just one more example of the double-edged sword one must contend with when one reaches the pinnacle of fame these boys have. Oh yes—once you raise the bar as high as NSYNC did when their last album, "No Strings Attached," sold a jaw-dropping, eye-popping, totally unrealistic 2.4 MILLION copies in its first week, you’re stuck with it. And no matter how many you sell of the new one, no matter how many times you lap the field, if it’s under 2.4 MILLION, somebody, somewhere is going to say it’s a disappointment.

Not us. In point of fact, early reports from leading accounts indicate that NSYNC’s "Celebrity" (Jive) is on track to sell the better part of 2 MILLION (comfortably in the 1.8-2 million range), making it one of only a handful of million-plus chart debuts and the second-highest first week in history. What’s wrong with that? Huh? If you think it’s so damn easy, why don’t you go do it yourself?

Say what you will about the great teenpop fadeout, this one’s huge and will be the biggest album of the year. And whatever you do, don’t make those boys cry. They’re very sensitive.

Of course this means that there will be about a one million, eight hundred thousand-unit difference between the #1 and #2 album on next week’s album chart, but the probable #2 album is a doozie in its own right—even under the long shadow of NSYNC.

Yes, we’re talking about Alicia Keys again, the debut artist whose "Songs in A Minor" (J Records) has been #1 three out of the past four weeks and will continue to be a huge story, pushed aside this week only by, as we said, the biggest album of the year. Maybe we’ll let her slide on that one.