November 24, 2010
Kanye West’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy just got a lot brighter.
The Roc-A-Fella/IDJ renaissance hip-hop icon and awards show provocateur lives up to his own lofty ambitions with a chart-topping debut for his latest rap opus, on target for between 525-575k, surpassing all pre-release forecasts. That tops the total registered by808s and Heartbreak, which bowed on almost the same week last year with 450k.
Those figures are based on those intrepid music retailers not being full body-scanned at our nation’s airports by the frisky TSA.
Cash Money/Universal Motown’s red-hot Nicki Minajalso bested pre-release predictions, with a total in the 375-425k range for her hotly anticipated debut, Pink Friday, though the upcoming Black Friday could render these estimates a little less accurate than usual.
Reprise emo-rock standard bearers My Chemical Romance’s fourth studio album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, their first since 2006’s The Black Parade, is on target for between 125-150k.
Def Jam/IDJ R&B songwriter/producer Ne-Yo’s fourth album, Libra Scale, should do in the 115-140k range.
Kemosabe/RCA/RMG pop diva Ke$ha’s Cannibal EP, available separately and as part of a deluxe package with her debut Animal album, should do between 60-70k on its own.
Lloyd Banks’ H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger for More 2), his first album for G-Unit under a deal with EMI Label Services, is off to a Top 10 start at iTunes, and should do between 40-50k in sales.
RCA/RMG’s Burlesque soundtrack to the film co-starringCher and Christina Aguilera, could do anywhere between 25-50k, depending on how the film, which opens today, fares at the box office.
Rounding out the new releases are Jay-Z’s Hits album (25-30k), Arista Nashville’s Alan Jackson (20-25k) andNine Inch Nails’ self-released Pretty Hate Machinereissue on their own Null label (17-20k).
Also, look for Justin Bieber's acoustic album, an exclusive at Wal-Mart and Sam's, to hit the street on Friday, and should be well-represented on the chart next week.
The market was up 29% vs. last week, up 2% vs. same week last year and still down 13% year to date. You may now go back to picking up the pieces of sky that are falling down.