Wednesday, February 8, 2006
A monkey, a yellow hat and a barefoot man could combine for next week's #1 album... if the
Grammys don't get in the way.
With one-day sales pouring in from around the country, it appears Universal Records' Curious George soundtrack, which is essentially a new Jack Johnson album, will be headed north of the 100k sales mark, maybe even to 120k, which ordinarily might be good enough for a #1 debut.
The animated film version of the classic children's tale opens Friday, and that could be enough to catapult the soundtrack to the top of the chart jungle.
Or not depending on what goes down at the Staples Center tonight.
A number of high-profile Grammy hopefuls and performers should experience sales jumps this week, most notably this week's #2 finisher, Mary J. Blige, who saw a big boost last week thanks to an appearance on Oprah dissing James Frey. Hey, only kidding.
Who else will experience the Grammy Effect? Among the hot candidates for upward movement: Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Gwen Stefani and, of course, perennial Grammy fave Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra.
Other chart newcomers include the following:
So So Def/Virgin's Dem Franchize Boyz, hot on the heels of smashes like "I Think They Like Me," makes sure the Dirty South is representing, and should pull in the 80-90k range, with a possible #2 bow. Jermaine Dupri knows his Crunk, doncha think? Or should we say "Snap"?
Blue-collar comic Ron White, the poor man's Larry the Cable Guy (is that some kind of oxymoron?) comes out of nowhere to score around 65-70k with his cleverly named album You Can't Fix Stupid (and who better to know that than us?) on Image Entertainment. Can I get a hee-haw somebody?
SMG/RLG's Totally Country 5 compilation should lasso anywhere between 55-60k in first-week sales. I can't quit choooo...
Steve Rifkind's latest discovery, SRC's distaff hip-hopper Remy Ma on Universal, will hit in the 35-40k area with her debut, There’s Something About Remy: Based on a True Story, which Rifkind boldly predicts will be "the biggest solo female rap album of all time."
Virgin breakout artist and U.K. sensation KT Tunstall is off to a nice start at around 20k for her Eye to the Telescope album and its Adult smash, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree."
