HANG ON LUPE

The Chicago-born rapper—real name Wasalu Muhammad Jaco—arrives with his third Atlantic Records studio album, Lasers, which will debut at #1 next week with between 220-240k in sales, the second biggest of the year next to Adele and the best start of his career.

Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, his Grammy-winning 2006 debut, bowed at #8 with 81k sold, and went on to sell 350k. His second album, the multi-Grammy-nominated Lupe Fiasco’s Cool, debuted at #15 in Dec., 2007, selling 143k, going on to a total of more than 500k.

Columbia’s Glee, Vol. 5 hits this week, with an expected sales total in the 90-100k range. This one features the gang’s mash-up of “Thriller” and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll,” along with versions of Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now,” Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls.”

RCA/RMG rocker Avril Lavigne returns with Goodbye Lullaby, her fourth studio album and first since 2007’s The Best Damn Thing, which appears headed for 85-90k

R.E.M.’s Collapse Into Now, the band’s last album under the $80 million Warner Bros. contract it inked in 1988, which many are calling a return to their classic mid-’80s form, looks to be in the 45-50k range.

RCA Nashville country singer-songwriter Sara Evans’ Stronger should do between 40-45k, while Ice H20/EMI rapper Raekwon’s Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang is looking in the range of 20-25k in first-week sales.

The market was down 2% vs. last week, up 1% vs. same week last year and now down 8% year to date.

Hey, it beats the week Charlie Sheen’s having.