ONE-DAY SALES: LITTLE SISTER MAKES GOOD
There's been a new Simpsons on TV for awhile, and while we've seen what it's done for big sister Jessica, it appears the momentum for lil' sister Ashlee's debut album has grown even bigger than Homer's swollen beer gut.
Call it Simpsonmania. Or don't-it won't change the facts none.
And the facts is that Ashlee's Autobiography (Geffen) is a certified monster (we mean that in the best way, of course). Indeed, it's much, much bigger than anyone had a right to believe it would be: After one day on sale, Autobiography is on track to sell well over 300k, according to early reports from national accounts.
That's up from initial predictions of around 100k, which would have been great for a new artist. Now, however, the big question is whether Simpson can blow past 350k before the week's out.
The answer to that question depends on how quickly certain stock issues arising from the unpredictably huge demand for the album can be solved. At this point, the feeling among insiders is that any stock problems will be solved quickly. Regardless, however, no one will be complaining about 300k-plus.
The massive early success of Autobiography, driven by Simpson's MTV reality show documenting her artistic flowering and hit single "Pieces of Me," of course guarantees that she'll be #1 on next week's chart by a mile. But who'll be #2?
That's great. They first predicted her to do 100k and now it's all the way up there. Her sister has never had a #1 record and never had that big of sales in the first week. Also, I think this will make her have the highest chart placement & first week sales for a female artist debut album this year.
