The following Italicized article is from www.billboard.com:Britney Spears' sixth studio album, "Circus," is on track to debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 next week, as the Jive set will lead Nielsen SoundScan's Building chart when it is released later today (Dec. 3).
Unweighted first-day sales of "Circus" through the close of business yesterday stood at 219,000. Billboard estimates the eight merchants who report to Nielsen SoundScan's Building chart -- Trans World Entertainment, Best Buy, Circuit City, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target and Anderson Merchandisers -- comprise about 80% of all U.S. album sales.
Sources close to the project suggest that "Circus" could move as much as 400,000 in its first week.
If "Circus" arrives atop the tally, it will be Spears' fifth No. 1 album. Among female artists, only four have racked up more chart-toppers: Barbra Streisand (eight), Madonna (seven) and Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson (both with six).
Spears' last release, 2007's "Blackout," bowed at No. 2 with 290,000 behind the debut of Eagles' "Long Road Out of Eden" (711,000).
Source: Billboard
Rockefeller Center is about to get a lot brighter. On Wednesday evening, the 76th Christmas tree-lighting ceremony will be held in midtown. The eight-ton 72-foot Norway spruce will be illuminated at 8:58 p.m. in the center’s plaza near the skating rink and the gilded statue depicting Prometheus bringing fire to mankind. The tree, which is 40 feet round, has been decorated with 30,000 energy-efficient LED lights on 5 miles of wire, topped with a massive crystal star. It was donated by the Varanyak family in Hamilton Twp., N.J. Beyonce, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick, Jr., and Jamie Foxx are among the entertainers scheduled to perform. While the first official lighting was in 1933, the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was put up two years earlier during the Depression in the mud by workers building the Art Deco complex. Among those expected to attend the ceremony is a Pascagoula, Miss., family whose new home was built in part with lumber from last year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, an 84-foot-tall Norway spruce. Tracey Davison and her four young daughters were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. They had moved into their first apartment just two days before the storm nearly destroyed their neighborhood near the Gulf Coast. Subsequently, Davison, a 40-year-old assistant teacher, and her daughters, with a few suitcases and bags in tow, lived in a friend’s home, at her brother’s, in a docked cruise ship and a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer. Then Davison and Ashunti, 10, Nylah, 9, Majsa, 8, and Karly, 4, were chosen to receive a new Habitat for Humanity home that former President Jimmy Carter, among others, helped build, Davison said. The three-bedroom baby blue home was finished in September and the family moved in a couple of weeks ago. Davison says she pays a “very affordable” mortgage. Lumber from last year’s Rockefeller Center tree was used to build two-by-fours that were placed in the walls and floors in the home’s living room, Davison said. “It’s kinda like Christmas before Christmas,” Davison said after arriving in New York City. “It was a dream come true. We’re very very excited to be in the house.”
