TWILIGHT'S FIRST GLEAMING

And while we have to wait until next Monday for the "companion" to the superstar's much-anticipated This Is It concert documentary, Chop Shop/Atlantic's The Twilight Saga: New Moon appears to be the front-runner to land at #1 in its first full week on the HITS Album sales chart.

Meanwhile, Curb country superstar Tim McGraw's latest, Southern Voice, appears headed for a first-week debut in the 95-105k range, based on one-day sales reports from those few retailers who haven't flown away in a balloon yet, certainly a lock for Top 3, depending on how this week's chart-topping Reprise album from Michael Buble does in its second full week in stores.

Virgin/EMI soul chanteuse Joss Stone's latest, Colour Me Free, which will come out as a Target/iTunes exclusive after her well-publicized wrangling with her label, looks to be in the 25-30k range.

German heavy metal gods Rammstein's sixth studio album, the colorfully named Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da, its debut for indie Vagrant through Universal Music Germany and first since 2005's Rosenrot, is set to sell between 15-20k umlauts, the same as Sub Pop's Kiwi superstars Flight of the Conchords and Curb/Lost Highway veteran pop and sometime country star Lyle Lovett's Natural Forces.

The market was down 7% vs. last week, down 11% vs. same week last year and still down 13% year to date.

Maybe it's time to make like Manny Ramirez and retreat to the clubhouse to take a shower.