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LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Forty-one years after he first
appeared on the Billboard 200, Neil Diamond appears on course
to earn his first No. 1 album ever on next week's chart.
First-day sales of "Home Before Dark" lead the Nielsen
SoundScan Building chart released May 7.
Unweighted sales for "Home" (Columbia) reported by the
chart's panel of nine merchants through the close of business
Tuesday, May 6, came in at 30,000. A source close to the album
projects a first-week start in the neighborhood of 125,000. The
current No. 1, Madonna's "Hard Candy" (Warner Bros.), may slide
to No. 2 or No. 3 next week, while new entries from Gavin
DeGraw, Clay Aiken, Toby Keith and Josh Groban look headed for
top 10 bows.
Billboard estimates the merchants who report to Nielsen
SoundScan's Building Chart -- Trans World Entertainment, Best
Buy, Circuit City, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target, Anderson
Merchandisers and Handleman Co. -- account for about 80 percent
of all U.S. album sales.
Over the course of Diamond's career, he has racked up 45
albums on the Billboard 200, starting with 1966's "The Feel of
Neil Diamond." The recent "American Idol" guest has earned 13
top 10 albums, including his last effort, "12 Songs," which
debuted and peaked at No. 4 in late 2005.
Reuters/Billboard
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2008
Reuters.
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