COLDPLAY STILL #1, BUT HERE COMES THE CRUE

The top of next week’s chart will look a lot like this week, based on one-day sales reports from our intrepid gang of retail geeks around this great, sun-baked country of ours.

This week’s #1 album, Coldplay’s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends will spend yet another week at the top of the HITS sales chart, followed by Cash Money/ Universal Republic rap icon Lil Wayne’s blockbuster Tha Carter III and Disney’s still smoldering Camp Rock soundtrack, featuring the Jonas Brothers.

The biggest debut of the week will be Sunset Strip metalmongers Motley Crue’s new, independently released Saints of Los Angeles, on their own Eleven Seven Music/Motley Records, distributed by RED, which is (pardon the pun) blowing past expectations at around 90k and headed for a #4 bow. It’s the first studio album from the original four members in more than a decade, since ‘97’s Generation Swine, which also bowed at #4, and is based on their best-selling autobiography, The Dirt.

Columbia Oscar-winning rappers Three 6 Mafia’s Last 2 Walk looks to be in the 50-60k range.

Atlantic Jacksonville, FL, grunge rockers Shinedown’s The Sound of Madness, their first studio album since ‘05’s gold Us and Them, is on target to sell between 40-45k in its first week.

ADA’s Sigur Ros is using some impressive iTunes numbers to land the enigmatic Icelandic art-rockers in the 25k range, give or take, followed by Fueled by Ramen emo comers Cute is What We Aim For at 20-25k..

Blue Note’s promising Philly singer-songwriter Amos Lee returns with his third studio album, Last Days at the Lodge, which should do around 20k.

Finally, G. Love returns after three solo albums with his Special Sauce for Superhero Brother, his third release on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire/Universal Republic imprint, with sales estimates in the 10-15k range.

The market was down 11% vs. last week, down 7% vs. same week last year and now down 11% year-to-date.

We now return you to finding the cheapest illegal fireworks online for Fourth of July.