ONE-DAY SALES: RASCAL FLATTS WILL CORRAL TOP SPOT, WHILE KEYSHIA COLE HITS A HIGH NOTE

There are plenty of variables as we crunch the early numbers for next week’s top sellers, but one thing is already clear: Rascal Flatts will be the runaway chart-topper. Early returns have the Lyric Street band winding up in the neighborhood of 525k, powered by a #1 Country single.

The other big debut is from R&B songstress Keyshia Cole, whose Geffen release is picking up momentum and rolling toward a solid #2 bow of around 300k, making it the feel-good story of the week.

Two more records should bow with relatively big numbers. RCA’s Foo Fighters are churning toward 175-185k, thanks in large part to monster iTunes support. And Hidden Beach’s Jill Scott is on target for 125k.

Island/IDJ has the next pair of debuts, with Jagged Edge projecting to 80-90k, and Melissa Etheridge gunning for 50k.

Among the other notable new releases are Polydor diva Queen Latifah (35-40k), a solo album from Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, on Interscope (30-35k) and Columbia crooner Tony Bennett (30-35k).

As for the incumbents, expect Reba McEntire (MCA Nashville), this week’s chart-topper, to drop by more than 50% from her first-week tally of 302k, while #2 Kanye West (Roc-A-Fella/IDJ) and #3 50 Cent (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) should experience declines of around 30%, meaning Kanye has a shot at staying in six figures.

Dollying back to the big picture, album sales were down 9.5% from last week, and off nearly 14% from the same week of 2006. That puts the biz at -14.3% year-to-date.