ONE-DAY SALES:
STRICTLY BUSINESS

According to early reports from national accounts, Jay-Z and R. Kelly’s second album together, this one titled Unfinished Business (IDJ/ZLG), is leading this week’s pack of new releases. After one day on sale, the superduo album appears headed for a first week just shy of 300k, which means it will easily top next week’s chart.

The question now is whether Jay-Z, who has said he’s through with recording, will be named President of Def Jam before or after the album debuts at #1. Oh—that, and whether he’ll come off the road with Kelly to accept.

Either way, Business will seize the top chart berth from the current #1, Rod Stewart’s Stardust: The Great American Songbook III (J/RMG), which logged a muscular 245k-plus this week.

Also showing strength one day after release is Trick Daddy’s Thug Matrimony: Married to the Streets (Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic), which early numbers show is on track to be the second-highest debut with a first week of 125k-150k. That could give it a shot at the Top Five, depending how the other top-tier albums perform.

Particularly disappointing, however, are the first-day results for Simple Plan’s Still Not Getting Any (Lava/Atlantic). At this point, the numbers indicate the album will sell about half of industry projections and will struggle to 100k for the week.

That’s more than a little difficult for us to write, since we’re so used to being the biggest disappointment out there. Oh well—guess we’re just not the best at anything.