HANDICAPPING THE BIGGEST DEBUTS
OF THE FOURTH QUARTER

Who are the big guns of the fourth quarter, and which labels have them? We've button-holed various experts and tea-leaf readers from around the industry to come up with the following prospectus for the home stretch of 2014, setting a baseline of 200k, which seems reasonable given present-day expectations.

You'll note that there are three country acts, three rappers, a pair of popsters (including Taylor) and one rock band that meet the criteria. But in this nutty business, you never know what might drop out of the sky gift-wrapped for the holidays (see December 2013 for an example of this phenomenon).

Additionally, there's a chance that a seasonal album or three will kick in and gain steam as Christmas approaches. But here's what we're prognosticating, based on what we know right now, with the caveat that these numbers are subject to circumstantial change.