Cole’s Geffen release is rolling toward a bow of around 300k, making it the feel-good story of the week.

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

OK, So It’s Not Another Super Tuesday, but Six Records Could Be in Six Figures Next Week
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 Peaswill.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.

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