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Alicia Keys’ As I Am looks like it could top this week’s HITS Album sales chart for the second consecutive week, with a total in the 300-350k range, which would pit it against Josh Groban’s Noel, soaring thanks to an Oprah appearance last week.

MONDAY MORNING LEFTOVERS: SLANTED TOWARDS ENCHANTED, KEYS VS. GROBAN, U2 SIGHTING, MIZZOU #1, MORE

Amy Adams' Star Rises, Keys vs. Groban, U2 Goes to Church, Missouri #1 in College Pigskin
Recovered from your turkey tryptophan hangover yet? Or have you finished ducking the crowds at Target on Black Friday? Had enough bad football? (I’m still in shock over how putrid my J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets were on Thursday against the Cowboys). With Black Friday done, are you ready for Cyber Monday?

It was a weekend in which The Firm client Amy Adams reached stardom, as Disney’s Enchanted topped the weekend box office with a gross of $35.3 million, and a take of over $50 million since its release Wednesday, the holiday season’s first, big crossover family smash. Sony/Screen Gems’ African-American family entry, This Christmas, came in second with $18.6 million and a five-day gross of $27.1 million. Last week’s #1, Paramount’s Beowulf, fell to #3 with a three-day take of $16.2 million and a five-day of $23.3 million, giving it a two-week total of $56.3 million. Fox’s Hitman opened in fourth place with five-day sales of $21 million ($13 million over the weekend), while Paramount’s Bee Movie pulled in just this side of $16 million since Wednesday and $12 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $112 million.

Alicia KeysAs I Am is battling it out with Josh Groban's Noel for the #1 spot on this week's HITS Album sales chart, though Groban appears in the lead at this point, thanks to an Oprah appearance last week boosting a total that is in the 400k range, compared to Keys at around 350k. Top debuts will be American Idol winner Jordin SparksJive/ZLG bow and Keith Urban’s Greatest Hits on Capitol, both in the 110-120k range. Stay tuned to our Building Album Sales Chart as the Black Friday totals are tallied by our crack(ed) retail staff here.

If Missouri, which turned back previously undefeated Kansas this weekend, can top Oklahoma in next weekend’s Big 12 championship, it will go to the BCS title game held at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on Jan. 7, 2008, against West Virginia, which has to beat Pittsburgh. Otherwise, this weekend’s traditional USC-UCLA battle will determine the Rose Bowl participant. If USC wins, they’re in; if UCLA wins, they have to hope Arizona tops Arizona State to play in their home stadium.

U2’s Bono and The Edge made a surprise appearance at a charity concert in a London church last Friday night. The two entertained a crowd of 250 as part of a benefit for Mencap, a British organization that helps people with learning disabilities. The duo played four songs in a 20-minute acoustic set, including “Stay (Faraway, So Close!), “Desire,” “Angel of Harlem” and “Wave of Sorrow (Birdland),” a rarity originally intended for Joshua Tree, but not available until it appeared on the record’s just-released 20th anniversary edition. The band’s bassist, Adam Clayon, was reportedly in the audience at the Union Chapel, a church that also presents concerts, but did not perform with the pair.

The much-debated XM-Sirius Satellite Radio merger seems to be on track to pass, according to the Motley Fool. That news comes after the Washington Post claimed that hundreds of thousands of e-mails opposing the merger were fake, created by the National Association of Broadcasters, who have been intensely lobbying against the pact.

The N.Y. Times ponders the new album by Jordin Sparks, the U.S. release of Amy Winehouse’s U.K. debut, new efforts from Loren Stillman and Kylie Minogue and an unearthed Gram Parsons live album on Amoeba here.

The N.Y. TimesBen Ratliff catches up with rock warhorse Jerry Lee Lewis during his performance at B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill here.

The N.Y. Times’ classical reviewer Allan Kozinn assesses Arlo Guthrie, playing with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, at the folk-singer’s annual holiday soiree at Carnegie Hall, where you can get anything you want, here.

The N.Y. TimesBen Sisario pens an obituary for rock publicist Paul Wasserman here.

The N.Y. Times’ list of holiday box set stocking stuffers can be read here.

The N.Y TimesKelefa Saneh reviews a very tentative Sly with his revised Family Stone performance here.

The L.A. TimesSarah Tomlinson praises John Fogerty’s “fierce” show at the Nokia L.A. Live Theater here.

The L.A. TimesJohn Payne is taken with the cinematic punk of Long Beach emo-rockers Cold War Kids' show at the Wiltern here.

The L.A. Times pop music staff ponders the multi-culturalism of a new crop of indie-rockers here.

The L.A. TimesOliver Wang wishes Queen Latifah would get back to her hip-hop roots here.

The L.A. Times’ Action Man reports from the trenches of the Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas here.

The L.A. TimesGreg Burk revels in Van Halen’s reunion tour, which hit Staples Center last week, here.

Newsday’s Rafer Guzman assesses R. Kelly’s “Vegas” extravaganza at the Nassau Coliseum, here.

The N.Y. Daily NewsJim Farber weighs in on Amy Winehouse’s “sober” debut here.

Explore the N.Y. Post's rundown of current music and pop culture magazines here.

ON THIS DAY:

In 1962: The Beatles recorded their first session for the “Please Please Me” single at Abbey Road’s Studio 2.

In 1966: The Beatles convened at Abbey Road studios to record the follow-up to Revolver.

In 1967: The Ed Sullivan Show aired a promotional clip for The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye.” The film was banned in England due to the Musician’s Union rules regarding lip-synching.

In 1968: Cream played their farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

In 1969: John Lennon participated in his last session with The Beatles, mixing and editing their B-side, “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number).”

In 1974: Led Zeppelin spent their time rehearsing at London’s Livewire Theatre while they waited for the release of Physical Graffiti. The record company was holding up the album’s release due to its complicated cutout sleeve.

In 1979: Fleetwood Mac played their first date in support of the double album Tusk in Pocatello, Idaho.

In 1979: Bob Dylan’s all-gospel show got an angry reaction in Tempe, AZ. Dylan himself spent most of his time berating the audience and then refused to play an encore.

In 1988: The Russian rocket Soyuz sent Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder album into deep space.

In 2002: Paul McCartney released Back in the US, a live document of his 2002 Driving USA tour.

In 2002: Tupac Shakur released Better Dayz, despite having been dead for six years.

In 2003: Britney Spears topped the album charts with her much-hyped In the Zone. She became the first female artist in chart history to land four consecutive albums at #1.

In 2003: No Limit rapper Soulja Slim was shot and killed in front of the two-story duplex he’d recently purchased for his mother in New Orleans.

In 2005: Christina Aguilera married record executive Jordan Bratman in California's Napa Valley.

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THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
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