CHART PREVIEW:
EMINEM’S ENCORE NO BORE
The latest projections have Mr. Mathers’ Encore (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) coming in with another 750k-850k for the week, putting him at somewhere around 1.5 million sold in 10 days.
And while most would agree that’s pretty decent showing for someone who’s stayed out of court, jail and the hospital over the last year—and one that puts the top chart slot out of the reach of every other person on the planet, by the way—Columbia’s Destiny’s Child has also made some serious headway, according to reports. The new album, Destiny Fulfilled, has a bead on a 500k week, thanks to a robust weekend, after looking kinda soft a week ago. That makes it a lock for #2.
Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz’ Crunk Juice (TVT) is also coming on strong, currently looking like it will rise to #3 on the chart based on sales of around 350k. The next-highest debut, which will have to battle Shania Twain and Toby Keith’s second-week numbers for position, should be Snoop Dogg’s R&G: Rhythm & Gangsta (Geffen), which is looking like it’ll log 180k-190k when the counting’s done.
Chingy’s Powerballin’ (Capitol), meanwhile, appears poised to come on the chart with 110k-115k in sales after its first full week in stores.
This week, as we rumble headlong into a turkey-fueled holiday shopping frenzy, is the moment of truth for U2, as we prepare to see how the band’s alliance with Apple and the many, many, many TV ads that resulted affect sales of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Interscope). Early estimates vary widely and range from 600k to 1 million for the album’s first week.
Interscope also has Gwen Stefani’s solo debut, Love, Angel, Music, Baby hitting the streets tomorrow. Retail pundits expect the album to see first-week sales in the 250k-300k range, but we won't have an actual projection until Wednesday morning, when we go through all this again. See you then.
