BOSS’ MAGIC PULLS
SALES OUT OF ITS HAT

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s new Columbia album, his first with the group since 2002’s The Rising, will debut at #1 on next Tuesday’s HITS Top 50, scoring in the 350k range in sales.

That’s the word from our indefatigable, if slightly beleaguered, retailers around the country after the album’s first day on shelves.

The album is being helped along by an unprecedented series of appearances, including a 90-minute performance on The Today Show, a full-scale dress rehearsal at New Jersey's Continental Airlines Arena, glowing reviews and a just-started U.S. tour.

Atlantic’s new Matchbox Twenty album, Exile on Mainstream, a hits collection with six new songs, is up next with 125k in estimated units sold, thanks to the massive radio airplay for the first single, “How Far We’ve Come.”

Interscope Windy City rapper Soulja Boy’s souljaboytellem.com is on target for 100-110k, while Capitol’s DC soul crooner J. Holiday is right behind him, with 90-100k for his new album, Back of My Lac, and its hit single, “Bed.”

Atlantic’s Virginia R&B singer Trey Songz’ Trey Day is next with 80k, give or take a k, followed by Arista’s Annie Lennox (75-80k), WB’s Faith Hill hits album (70-80k), Fantasy/Concord Music’s John Fogerty (55-60k), SBMG Nashville’s Brooks and Dunn (60-65k) and Vagrant’s Dashboard Confessional acoustic album, The Shade of Poison Trees (50k).

The market was up 9.2% vs. last week, down 8.5% vs. same week last year and now down a little over 14% year-to-date.

And the beat, as it were, goes on.