The early reports from national accounts are in, and they say that the Goo Goo Dolls’ new album, Gutterflower, is seeing solid initial sales and could give Warner Bros. a shot at a Top 5 chart debut next week.

The new album, the band’s first since 1998’s Dizzy Up the Girl, is on track to notch on the order of 100k for its first week.

That’s about it, other than the possible battle for #1 brewing between the 500k + debut divas Celine Dion (Epic) and Ashanti (Murder Inc./IDJ): Celine’s number dipped to a little below 250k this week, but with a boost from Sunday’s CBS special, it could easily climb again. If Ashanti sees her second-week figure settle by 40% or so (Celine’s dropped 55%), it’ll be a horserace.

Figuratively speaking, of course.