CAPITOL'S NOW 17 MASSIVE, A PERFECT CIRCLE BOWS AND BROTHER RAY IS HOT

A hit is a hit is a hit.

Capitol's Now 17, which is full of 'em, looks to be the leader on this week's album sales chart, with a shot at going over the 400k mark. And Ashlee Simpson even sings on it. The previous edition, Now 16, came out last July 27 on UME and scored 504k in first-week sales.

Virgin rockers A Perfect Circle's politically movitated eMOTIVe, which includes versions of John Lennon's "Imagine," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Devo's "Freedom of Choice," Black Flag's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie," Fear's "Let's Have a War" and Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," will bow at #2, with about 140k, give or take a few ks.

Fo' Reel/Universal rap star Nelly's Suit continues to wear well on record buyers, especially the Tim McGraw duet, "Over and Over," and looks like a solid #3, with 100k sold.

The rest of the Top 5 should include MCA Nashville's George Strait and a battle between J/RMG's Rod Stewart Great American Songbook III and Atlantic's Trick Daddy for the #5 spot.

The two Ray Charles albums are also picking up momentum, thanks to the motion picture biopic hit, which finished #2 this week at the box office. In early returns, the Rhino/Atlantic/ WMG Soundtracks album to the movie, featuring his greatest hits, is doing even better than Concord's smash posthumous duets tribute, Genius Loves Company.

Meanwhile, this Friday, Eminem's Encore (Aftermath/Interscope) hits the streets four days early and should easily dominate the chart a week from Tuesday (11/16).