ONE-DAY SALES: THE BICE SQUAD HITS RETAIL

Looks like American Idol has launched yet another career, and, like Clay Aiken before him, long-haired rocker Bo Bice (RCA/RMG) seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of the underdog status of being the runner up in the 2005 edition of the show. From the early data pouring in from retail, Bice may have enough fans to give Idol winner Carrie Underwood a run for her money, career-wise, as he boogaloos to a first-week total of 180k-200k on his debut album. Not only that, but our boy currently has the inside track to the #1 position next week. That said, he’s competing in a particularly crowded field of bona-fide hits as we hit the home stretch of the holiday gift-giving season.

Bice’s rivals include practically the entirety of this week’s Top 10, including current chart-topper Eminem, steady sellers like Now 20, Kenny Chesney, Nickelback, Mariah Carey and Black Eyed Peas, all of whom are seeing sizable sales increases, as are Bo’s buds Underwood and Kelly Clarkson. This horse race could be a thriller.

Tuesday’s other notable debuts include Def Jam/IDJ’s Ludicris, who’s looking 110k-120k-ish, So So Def/ZLG’s Anthony Hamilton (100k-110k), reggaetron up-and-comer Daddy Yankee, on Interscope (50k-60k) and Jive/ZLG’s Youngblood (45k-55k).

As usual you can count on us for updates, but, as always, dson’t believe everything you read.

But believe this: Weekly album sales were up a whopping 23.7%, or 3.7 million, over last week, but before you start popping the Dom, it should also be noted that this week’s total of 19.2 million units was 2.6 million less than the same week of 2004 (that’s an 11.9% deficit, BTW). That means year-to-date sales remain 10% below last year—a fraction over 10%, to be perfectly frank about it. The tally so far is 544.1 million units. But hey, here’s a stat that might perk you up: digital sales on the year are up 200%... Is that the sound of one hand clapping…?