Chart Preview

YOUR WEAKEND TOP 15 CHART PREVIEW

Eminem will achieve a seventh week with sales north of 100k when the HITS Album Chart is final next Tuesday. Surprisingly, the last time this happened was earlier this year, when Lady Antebellum scored seven straight weeks at 100k+ with Need You Now. For now, at least, these are the two albums battling for the title as the year's best seller. Including next week's projected totals, Lady Antebellum leads with about 2.5m, while Eminem, still selling five-to-six times more per week, will be just under 2m. Nearing the end of the sales week, it looks like Eminem will regain the #1 spot, though the challenge from Arcade Fire looks formidable and still may surprise come Monday, as the band racks up its best sales week ever. No matter which of these two adventurous albums wins out, it looks like the old maxim still holds up: Good records sell.

Eminem (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) 150-155k
* Arcade Fire (Merge) 130-140k
Avenged Sevenfold (Warner Bros.) 45-50k
Rick Ross (Def Jam/IDJ) 40-45k
Justin Bieber (Island/IDJ) 35-40k
* Lady Gaga, The Remix (Interscope) 35-40k
* Bun B (Rap-a-Lot) 35-40k
Drake (Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown) 30-35k
Lady Antebellum (Capitol Nashville/EMI) 30-35k
* Buckcherry (Eleven Seven Music) 25-30k
* Black Crowes (Silver Arrow/Megaforce) 25-30k
Kidz Bop Kids (Razor & Tie) 24-27k
Lady Gaga, The Fame (Interscope) 21-24k
Now 34 (Capitol/EMI) 20-22k
Black Eyed Peas (Interscope) 20-22k
* Denotes debut

You may now return to watching the Vevo stream of Arcade Fire’s MSG set. (8/6a)