THE GAME IS ON, AKON SMACKDOWN LOOMS
Based on first-day reports from those retailers still in business around this suddenly Blue State land of ours, the Compton rapper’s sophomore album will soar past 400k and could go as high as 450k, an easy #1. His last album, The Documentary, on G-Unit/Interscope, came out in January ’05 and sold almost 600k its first week on its way to double-platinum.
Right in back of him is Senegal-born, N.J.-raised ex-con Akon, whose new Konvicted album is another winner for Steve Rifkind’s SRC label through Universal Motown. Thanks to a pair of smash duets with Eminem (“Smack That”) and Snoop Dogg (“I Wanna Love You”), the album is set to bow with between 225-250k, more than 10 times the 24k his debut Trouble sold in June ’04. That puts Konvicted into a battle for #2 with Sony Label Group’s Now 23 in its second week.
Interscope’s +44, the new band formed by blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, bows with their debut When Your Heart Stops Beating, on target for around 65-70k, exactly the same total earmarked for Fat Joe’s debut Virgin effort, Me, Myself & I.
Epic’s Tenacious D emerge with the soundtrack to their new Pick of Destiny film, which is right behind them with between 60-65k.
Warner Bros. Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice is in at around 25k, while both Flip/WB’s Staind and The Firm Music’s Army of Anyone are in the 20k range.
Next Tuesday, Def Jam’s Jay-Z and Capitol’s The Beatles mash up the streets, with Amaru/ Interscope’s 2Pac and Doggystyle/Geffen’s Snoop Dogg also hitting retail shelves. Other major titles on sale include Interscope’s U2 singles collection, RCA’s Idol alum Daughtry, TVT’s crunk rappers Ying Yang Twins and Columbia’s Il Divo also on tap.
The market was up 12% vs. last week, as the holiday season moves into high gear, was basically flat vs. same week in 2005 and now down a little under 5% year-to-date.
