ONE-DAY SALES:
BRITNEY DOES IT AGAIN

Looks like she’s In the Zone, all right.

Yep, Britney Spears’ new Jive album is hitting its marks and then some. The collection is on track to sell a whopping 550k in its first week and may even hit 600k, according to early reports from national accounts. Guess having Madonna for a mentor doesn’t hurt.

Indeed, reports indicate the post-teenpop sexpot is handily beating expectations and selling well across the board. Albino boa constrictors for everyone!

Also besting expectations is Blink-182’s eponymous opus on Geffen. Reports indicate the pop-punk band’s latest is likely to sell over 300k for the week.

Next up is The Beatles’ Phil Spector-less Let It Be... Naked (Apple/Capitol), which could cross the 200k threshold before the week’s over.

And then there’s Michael Jackson’s Number Ones (Epic), whose release coincided in true Jackson-controversy fashion with a raid of his Neverland Ranch Tuesday. So far, it looks like the hits collection could come in shy of 100k, but it’s hard to say how continued news coverage of Jackson might impact that number.

Chart-wise, Britney will reign as next week’s #1 unchallenged. As for #2, Blink presumably has the best shot, but it all depends on how this week’s dueling 400k-plus rap debuts in Jay-Z and 2Pac hold up. Throw in The Beatles and you could be looking at next week’s Top Five.

But with the early release of both Korn’s Take a Look in the Mirror (Epic) and the Dixie Chicks’ Top of the World live CD/DVD sets now coming Friday, the chart picture could change dramatically. Regardless, look for increased shopper traffic driven by the early releases to give a boost to all new titles. Blink in particular should see a bump from the Korn release.