ONE-DAY SALES: ALAN JACKSON “DRIVES,” SCORES

That’s right, there’s finally something to hoot ’n’ holler about in the aught-two: Country force-of-nature Alan Jackson looks like he’ll sell on the order of half a million records this week, according to early reports from national accounts.

That’s a whole lot more than most people were expecting.

Seems Jackson’s touching 9/11 tribute, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” has struck a chord with record buyers—the kind of chord that magically separates cash from wallets. That means his new album, Drive, will not only unseat Wind-up’s Creed, which has seemed untouchable at #1, but give Arista the first really big chart debut of the year as well.

Thanks. We needed that.

Drive’s popularity caught most retail accounts off guard. As a result, those accounts and BMG are scrambling to get enough product in stores to catch up with demand. Of course, one can’t really blame retailers for ordering conservatively when more records have underperformed than not lately, but if all the Jackson orders are filled, as most expect they will be, the album should reach the 500k mark easily.

Interestingly, the racks weren’t surprised by Jackson’s strong early showing one bit. That’s because Billy Bob and Jethro are busy buying feed and ammunition at the Wal-Marts and Kmarts of the world all day, so the racks see more sales of Country titles than the rest of the world.

Speaking of Country, Jackson’s “Where Were You” hasn’t even begun to cross at radio, but when it does, this one could get a whole lot bigger.

God bless Alan Jackson. Thank you.