Chris Brown Will Bow at #1 with 250-275k

HIS F.A.M.E. IS TRUE
Chris Brown Will Bow at #1 with 250-275k; Jennifer Hudson, The Strokes Up Next
March 23, 2011


Barry Weiss certainly didn’t leave the cupboard bare at Jive/RCA when he split for UMG.

The label group will have the top four debuts on next week’s chart, with Jive/JLG’s Chris Brown album, F.A.M.E., leading the way, boasting a total of in the 250-275k range. That would make it the second-largest of the year after Adele’s 351k. If you didn’t know, the acronym stands for “Forgive All My Enemies.” Nice.

Arista/RMG’s Jennifer Hudson sophomore album, I Remember Me, bows this week with 150-175k in sales, which is about what she dropped in weight.

RCA/RMG’s The Strokes album, Angles, their first in four years, will do in the 85-100k range, good for a #3 debut.

Gospocentric/JLG’s Kirk Franklin rounds out Jive/RCA’s impressive week with a #4 debut for Hello Fear, his first new studio effort in four years, which will debut with between 80-95k.

Adele’s album, down only about 10-15%, will give Sony Music a clean sweep of the Top 5.

Decaydance/FBR/Atlantic’s Panic at the Disco is next up with a target of 55-65k for Vices & Virtues, their third album.

Capitol/EMI R&B singer Bobby V’s fourth album, Fly on the Wall, should do between 30-45k.

Yellowcard’s indie debut on Hopeless, When You’re Through Thiking, Say Yes, their first since 2007’s Paper Walls, is looking at between 25-30k, the same amount as Reprise’s Green Day live CD/DVD, the gloriously titled Awesome as Fuck.

Warner Bros. rapper Gucci Mane’s The Return of Mr. Zone 6, should bow with between 20-25k in first-week sales.

For the fifth week in a row, album sales beat the corresponding week from last year. The market was down 8% vs. last week, up 1% vs. same week last year and now down 6% year to date. Next week, the chart will go up against Justin Bieber's My World 2.0, which opened one year ago with 283k.