First week sales predictions between Ariana Grande's new album 'Yours Truly' and Tamar Braxton's 'Love & War' are dangerously close!Poor John Legend lags behind with his new album 'Love In The Future.' Sorry Mr. Legend. This chart battle is strictly between the female vocalists! Ariana and Tamar are set to debut at either #1 or #2 on the Billboard 200. 'Yours Truly' is projected to sell 110-115,000 copies and 'Love & War' is projected to sell 105-110,000. This is surprising because I thought mini Mariah would have had this race on lockdown!
Tamar's album DID receive a very generous plug from Lady Gaga on Twitter (highly likely orchestrated by Gaga's manager Vince, Tamar's husband). It may have given her a bit of an advantage but I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she is selling decent numbers solely because her album is a very solid body of work. That said, the margin is so close we can't even say for sure who will have the #1 album by next week! Meanwhile, Legend's 'Love In The Future' will debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 with projected sales of just 55,000 copies. Guess the public just didn't care for his overly romantic gestures. Next time eh?