ADELE RETURNING TO #1?

There will be dueling versions of “Rolling in the Deep” next week, folks, in an all-out assault for the top spot on next week’s HITS Album sales chart.

After an absence of five weeks from the top spot, XL/Columbia British pop diva Adele’s 2.7-million-and-counting 21 album, which includes the original, will go up against Razor & Tie’s Kidz Bop 20 and its cover, for #1 on next week’s tally. The latter should do in the 60-65k range, while our resident retail expert, and we use the term loosely, gives Adele the slight early edge.

That’s what we’ve gathered from analyzing one-day sales reports from those music retailers whose heads-up is not quite the equivalent of U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach’s.

Universal Republic Mississippi pop-rock perennials 3 Doors Down’s Time of My Life, their fifth studio album, looks set to garner first-week sales in the 55-60k range. Their last album, 2008’s self-titled effort, debuted with 155k on its way to 895k in sales to date.

ATO’s 311 returns with Universal Pulse, the band’s 10th album since its debut in 1993, with estimated sales from 50-55k.

Universal Republic hip-hop star DJ Khaled’s We the Best Forever, his fifth studio album overall, look to debut with 40-45k. His previous album, last year’s Victory, bowed with 88k in first-week sales.

Album sales were up 5% vs. last week, up 8% vs. the same week last year and still up 1% year to date. Sales with Track Equivalent Albums included are up 3% vs. last week and up 3.8% year to date. Pop the champagne…