TOBY WILL BE #1: COUNTRY STAR TARGETED FOR TOP SPOT

According to one-day sales reports from our crack team of retailers around this great country of ours, Toby Keith’s new album on his own Showdog Nashville/UMGD label will debut at #1 with between 170-180k.

Rapper Fabolous’ Def Jam/IDJ album From Nothin’ to Somethin’ is up next with a projected total of 140-150k, which is more than enough to give it a #2 bow.

New Orleans-born Arab-American hip-hop icon DJ Khaled’s second Koch album, We the Best, featuring such cohorts as T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Juelz Santana, Rick Ross, Fat Joe and Trick Daddy, will be in the 80-90k range, a seeming lock for Top 5.

The deluxe Rhino/WB CD/DVD The Traveling Wilburys Collection looks to be in the 55-65k area, as will Interscope desert rockers Queens of the Stone Age’s Era Vulgaris, which just received four stars in a lead Rolling Stone review.

Legendary father-son R&B team Gerald and Eddie Levert release their first Atlantic album, Something To Talk About, since the tragic death of son Gerald last November from acute intoxication at the age of 40, with an estimated 40-45k in first-week sales

Latin pop music heartthrob Enrique Iglesias’ Insomniac, his first Interscope album since 2003’s 7, appears headed for 40k, give or take, in first-week sales.

Nashville pop-punk band Paramore, fronted by fiery redhead vocalist Hayley Williams, anticipate between 35-40k in sales for their Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic album, Riot!, with Hot Topic retail activity a factor.

Rap bad boy DMX’s Ruff Ryders/Def Jam greatest hits album, The Definition of X: The Pick of the Litter, is in the 30k area.

Also at 30k is WB’s Yoko Ono-approved charity album, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, which includes a variety of artists covering John Lennon songs, including Green Day’s version of “Working Class Hero,” U2, R.E.M., Christina Aguilera, Jakob Dylan, Avril Lavigne, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jackson Browne, Big & Rich, Los Lonely Boys, Lenny Kravitz, Aerosmith and Youssou N’Dour.

The market was up 5.3% vs. last week, down 8.3% vs same week last year and down 16% year-to-date. You may now return to blogging about the ending of The Sopranos.