ALLEN TOP DEBUT AS GRAMMY SPIKES KICK IN

Her sophomore Capitol Records album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, could make her one here in the States, too.

Based on one-day sales figures from those retailers still standing along with exploding iTunes sales, Allen is headed for a total of 65-70k in first-week sales, making her next Tuesday’s top chart debut on the HITS chart.

She’ll battle it out for #1 with some combination of artists experiencing post-Grammy sales surges like Taylor Swift, Adele and Plant/Krauss, while last week’s chart-topper The Fray and Bruce Springsteen are also in the mix. In addition, Coldplay is experiencing enormous spikes, thanks to its Grammy night performance and Song of the Year honors. The top of the chart is what you call a clusterf**k... and don't forget the Valentine's Day effect, a historical product mover in the record sector.

Universal Republic’s neo-soulster India.Arie’s Testimony Vol. 2: Love & Politics is on target for 55-60k, which certainly puts it in the mix as well. The label’s Lonely Island album, Incredibad, the group featuring SNL’s Andy Samberg, creators of such digital shorts as “Dick in a Box,” “Jizz in my Pants” and “Lazy Sunday,” will also score a pretty impressive 45-50k.

Atlanta R&B crooner Bobby Valentino makes his label debut on his own Blu Kolla Dreams through Capitol/EMI with The Rebirth after a pair of releases on Ludacris’ Disturbing Tha Peace imprint on Def Jam. First-week total appears to be in the 45-50k range.

Universal Motown’s Ryan Leslie and Provident Christian Creed-ish alt-metal band (!!) Red, both at 20-25k, round out next week’s likely chart bows.

The market was up 13% vs. last week, down 13% vs. same week last year and still down 12% year to date. You may now return to monitoring Christian Bale’s temper tantrums on the Internet.