BEYONCE GOES BEYOND, ALBUM LOOKS TO SOAR PAST 600K

With new Sony Music chief Rob Stringer in the building (and unlike some colleagues, not taking credit for the surge), the suddenly mean machine on Madison is kicking into gear, following up this week’s chart-topping Bob Dylan album with what looks like another huge album on deck in Beyonce’s B’Day, which is on target to soar past 600k and could approach 650k, based on first-day sales reports from our crack retail reporters around this great country of ours.

All that and a $1 million 1959 Rolls Royce from bf Jay-Z makes for a pretty nifty birthday, if you ask us.

The week’s other big album, Audioslave’s Revelations (Epic/Interscope) appears pretty good in a down market for rock, with a first-week total estimated between 130-140k. Sanctuary Music Group’s metal perennials Iron Maiden is up next with 60k, give or take a screaming guitar solo and a medieval torture device.

Meanwhile, back to reality. As we head into the prime selling season, the industry was down between 1-2% last week, down more than 10% from same week last year and now down more than 5.5% to year-to-date.