ONE-DAY SALES: USHER LIKELY TO MAKE IT SEVEN

According to early reports from national accounts, Usher’s Confessions (LaFace/ZLG), by now a national institution, should make it a seventh week at #1 on next week’s Top 50 Albums chart. Yawn. Isn’t runaway success boring?

While Usher should maintain a comfortable lead, however, rough-and-tumble country-pop sensation Gretchen Wilson should see her Here for the Party (Epic/Sony Nashville) move upwards of 200k for the week, making it an easy #2.

Mid-week sales reports will, of course, make the picture clearer, but this is what our retail guys in the white lab coats and safety glasses think right now.

The next-highest debut on next week’s chart should be the latest from Eightball & M.J.G., Living Legends (Bad Boy/Universal). Tha new shizznit should be comin’ in at about 110k-115k, yo.

Meanwhile, Teena Marie’s La Dona (Universal) is off to a surprisingly strong start and looks like it should log just shy of 100k for the week.

And finally, Killswitch Engage’s The End of Heartache (Roadrunner/IDJ) is on track to come on the chart with around 50k under its gnarly, studded rock & roll belt.