JONAS TOPPING 720K, CAN IT BEAT COLDPLAY?

Adding some extra heat to the August dog days. Hollywood’s sizzling Jonas Brothers are poised to top next week’s HITS Album Sales chart, with a total that, as of the moment, looks in the 725k area for their second label effort, the aptly named A Little Bit Longer.

That total would put it well in range of the year’s second-best debut, Capitol’s Coldplay with 721k, though it still trails by quite a bit Lil Wayne’s still-dominant first week tally of a million-plus back in June for his Cash Money/Universal Motown album Tha Carter III.

There are still a number of variables to consider, though. There are a good number of non-traditional retailers involved, which makes the final number difficult to predict. Also, Hollywood did not make the album available on pre-sale at iTunes, releasing four separate tracks over the month, selling 1.3 million single downloads, many of which could be converted into “complete-my-album” sales.

No matter how you slice it, the Jonas Bros’ big week evidences the unmatched power of the Disney multimedia platform. Bob Cavallo’s Disney Music Group has taken full advantage of the parent company’s unique combination of media outlets, including the Disney Channel, Radio Disney and the ABC TV Networks, in launching its string of hits. The synergy between these platforms is responsible in large part for DMG’s healthy current marketshare of nearly 5%.

Other titles which hit the street this week include Interscope’s Daddy Yankee, Bad Boy’s Janelle Monet, Epic’s Yung Berg and MTV’s American Mall soundtrack.

In all, the market was down 3% vs. last week, down 11% vs. same week last year and still down 11% year-to-date. You may now continue blogging to your favorite Chinese gymnast.