WEEK IN PREVIEW:
JIMMY BUFFET FANS FEAST

Many of us have long admired Jimmy Buffett’s ability to sell records, tour and generally support an entire subculture based on a highly devoted army of fans who can’t get enough of his chilled-out stylings—or the cool way he dresses (see photo at left).

But now, thanks to the good folks at RCA Nashville/RLG, Buffett has delivered an album (bearing his own Mailboat imprint) chock full o’ duets and such with some of Country music’s best and brightest, bringing an expanded audience to his table.

Indeed, as our sale gurus continue to tabulate retail sales reports from around the nation, it appears ever more likely that Buffett’s License to Chill will have exceeded the 200k mark in its first week on sale, making it this week’s #1 album by a comfortable margin.

The week’s next-highest debut should be Geffen’s The Roots, coming in at about 110k, followed by Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster EP on Warner Bros., which should do about 100k-150k, Hollywood’s Hilary Duff-packing Cinderella Story soundtrack at around 80-100k and Virgin’s Beenie Man at about 40k-50k.

Major titles hitting the street this week include Van Halen’s Best of Both Worlds (Warner Special Markets), which is expected to hit around 200k in its first week, Ashlee Simpson’s Autobiography (Geffen), which early projections peg at about 100k, and The Hives’ Tyrannosaurus Hives (Interscope), which guessers are guessing will move 90k-100k in its first week on sale.