JACKSON'S ALL ABOUT IT
The late superstar continues to bolster the record business, with the Epic release of the companion album to This Is It hitting retail to the tune of what looks now like around 300k in first-week sales.
That would be more than enough for it to debut at #1, but as the film rolls out this week to record box office ($2.2 million in receipts last night), that number could well trend upward. We’ll keep an eye on it for you as we tote up the one-day sales figures from those retailers still solvent enough to keep the doors open.
Wind-up’s comebacking Creed celebrates the resurrection of Scott Stapp and company, with between 100-110k in sales for the aptly titled Full Circle. That will put the band co-managed by Geary/Paul in a race with Chop Shop/Atlantic’s Twilight soundtrack and Big Machine’s Taylor Swift, who this week releases a Deluxe Edition of her four-times-platinum-plus Fearless album, which looks to be in the 90-95k range.
J/RMG’s Rod Stewart Soulbook, a collection of R&B standards featuring duets with Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson, is headed for between 80-85k, while Jason Flom’s perennial Christmas attraction, Lava/Atlantic’s Trans-Siberian Orchestra, is in the 70-75k neighborhood for its annual dose of seasonal prog-rock cheer.
Other releases on tap include Brushfire/Universal Republic’s Jack Johnson (38-42k), Deutsche Grammophon’s Sting holiday collection (36-40k), Strange Music old-school rappers Tech N9ne (31-35k) and Hollywood headbangers Atreyu (28-32k), the same total as Columbia’s Train, Sire’s Tegan & Sarah and Interscope’s Wolfmother, followed by E1’s Brian McKnight (18-22k).
Also of note, Victory’s Between the Buried and Me (9-12k), Evil Teen’s southern rockers Gov’t Mule (8-10k) and Geffen’s Orianthi, the female teen guitarist who would’ve been featured on Michael Jackson’s ill-fated tour (3-4k).
The market was down 2% vs. last week, down 19% vs. same week last year and now down 14% year to date.
And you thought NBC had it tough having to air Jay Leno five nights a week.
