ONE-DAY SALES:
USHER GOES FOR EIGHT

Despite a slew of major new releases hitting the street yesterday, it appears that Usher will stay on top for next week’s album chart, making it eight weeks at #1.

After one day on sale, according to early reports from national accounts, releases from Method Man, New Found Glory, Alanis Morissette, Montgomery Gentry and Lenny Kravitz each will fall short of challenging Usher’s Confessions (LaFace/ZLG) for the top chart berth. Usher’s numbers declined a mere 15% this week to 227.5k

Next week’s top chart debut will be either Method Man’s Tical 0: The Prequel (Def Jam/IDJ) or New Found Glory’s Catalyst (Drive-Thru/Geffen). At this point, both are running neck-and-neck, with projected first-week sales of 160k-170k.

Morissette’s So-Called Chaos (Maverick), meanwhile, appears likely to break the 100k mark before the week is over. Montgomery Gentry’s You Do Your Thing is also likely to approach 100k, but may fall just short of it.

Lenny Kravitz’s Baptism (Virgin) and a new release from Morrissey, You Are the Quarry (Attack/Sanctuary) are both projected to sell over 50k for the week. Kravitz, however, has several television appearances slated, including Today and Ryan Seacrest tomorrow and serving as “Grand Marshal” for Saturday’s NASCAR race, so his number could go up.

Of this week’s batch of releases, the only one said to be beating expectations at this point is New Found Glory.