ONE-DAY SALES: SHYNE,
MOBB DEEP, ALTER BRIDGE
TO DEBUT TOP 5

Dang. You can take a whole pack o’ hits (UTV’s Now 16) and put ’em up against one red-hot MTV starlet (Geffen’s Ashlee Simpson) and still not win.

It was close, but Simpson’s Autobiography outsold Now 16 by about 3k, enough to move it back to #1. Newsflash: It’s gonna be close again this week, according to early reports from national accounts, but the same two albums will likely come in at #1 and #2 on next week’s chart. We just don’t know in what order.

Both Autobiography and Now 16 are expected to sell in the 200k range for the week.

The rest of next week’s Top 5, however, will likely be made up of newcomers: Shyne’s much-anticipated Godfather Buried Alive (Def Jam) appears headed for a first-week total of around 180k or a little better; Mobb Deep’s Amerikaz Nightmare (Jive) is on track to sell around 130k for the week; and post-Creed rockers Alter Bridge (Wind-up) are looking at a first week of about 120k.

How will they line up? Check the HITS Building Album Chart starting Monday morning to find out.