ONE-DAY SALES: NEW RELEASES TAKE A WEEK OFF BEFORE VALENTINE’S DAY

Try not to get too excited, kiddies. The rocket scientists in the HITS sales department have calculated that the week’s biggest debut will be from venerable hair band Motley Crue (Hip-O/UME), who are poised to ring up between 75k and 80k units, leaning toward the high side because it's a best-of.

In hot pursuit will be Tina Turner (Capitol), who, with the help of a Starbuck's campaign and an Oprah appearance on Friday could catch the Crue. Meanwhile, Capitol’s Grammy Nominations 2005, which also streeted yesterday, is on track to sell over 50k. Beyond that, there isn't a lot to talk about.

Given the lack of new-release juice, The Game (G Unit/Aftermath/Interscope) and Kenny Chesney (BNA) should be fighting it out for #1 for the second week in a row, though we wouldn’t hazard a guess as to who’ll be on top.

Now for the good news and the bad news. This week, the overall industry was up 9% (+860k units) vs. last week, but down 0.2% (-21k) versus week four of 2004. Album scans were down 5.7 million units (-12.4%) from last year; that breaks down to 3.9 million (-13.7%) current and 1.8 million (-10.2%) catalog. Year to date sales are 45 million, down 12.4%.