As every sage shopaholic knows, the mother of all shopping days is upon us tomorrow- BLACK FRIDAY. After filling up on turkey and getting their family obligations out of the way, hardcore shoppers brave their way to malls, outlets, and anywhere else they can get a great deal. With all this copious amounts of money going through cash registers across the country, it’s no wonder why this week is traditionally a very crowded week for music.

While some albums got an early jump last week, others chose this week to give their offerings. With FIVE high-profile releases in stores this week, after the dust settles and sales are tabulated there can only be one winner. Who will be on top? Who will win this Thanksgiving Week Battle Royale?

Before I start dissecting this week’s CDs, lets do a quick roundup of last week’s action. The top three were John Mayer with 286,000 copies sold, Andrea Bocelli’s Christmas offering and then Norah Jones with 180,000 units moved. While these three ruled the album chart, other high-profile CDs didn’t sell as expected. Among the notable misses/disappointments were 50 Cent who fell behind Christian soft-rockers and Leona Lewis who bowed in at No. 13- someone’s probably really un”Happy” this Thanksgiving Day. But probably the most disappointing figure has to go to Kris Allen. Though he managed to land at No. 11 and beat Lewis, his 80,000 CDs sold is easily the lowest first-week sales for any American Idol winner. That total is even lower than Taylor Hicks- OUCH, that’s gotta hurt.

Now that we’ve gotten that back story out of the way, let’s turn our attention to this week’s contenders.

LADY GAGA – THE FAME MONSTER

With her single, “Bad Romance” playing everywhere- and by everywhere I mean gay households across the land- Lady Gaga has been hard at work promoting the re-release of her debut album. Heck, she even did a performance on the latest “Gossip Girl” episode- really, a Lady Gaga opera. Early indicators show she’ll probably move about 180-200K units. You go, Lady Gaga.

RIHANNA – RATED R

Given how much she’s been in the spotlight with her personal life, you’d think the buzz would be a lot bigger for her upcoming CD. I maybe in the minority here, but I’m still not sold on “Russian Roulette” nor “The Wait is Ova”. Wanna talk publicity tour, Rihanna’s been all over the place- 20/20, Good Morning America, American Music Awards and a multitude of other media outlets. Even with all this exposure and the heavy interest in her personal life, she’s only projected to sell less than GaGa with 150-170K

SHAKIRA – SHE WOLF

Even with her hips telling the truth everywhere, Shakira isn’t immune to the declining sales faced by the recording industry. Like four out of five releases this week, she was working it out at this week’s American Music Awards. Hopefully her appearance on last night’s STYCYD result show will give her a late week boost in sales. Currently she’s only predicted to haul in around 80-90K in sales. Looks like the She-Wolf herself will be craving for more sales Whenever, Wherever she can in upcoming weeks.

ADAM LAMBERT – FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

Oh Glambert, where to begin. He’s been literally everywhere this week- blogs, morning TV, evening TV, papers, magazines. Anywhere you can think of, he’s been there. You know what they say, any press is good press. Well, it’s true. Given the fact the winner of his season, Kris Allen, only moved 80,000 units, it’s astonishing that crotch rubbing Lambert is projected to sell around 250,000 CDs by the time sales are tabulated for next weeks statistics. Maybe Allen should start wearing glitter and eye-liner too- it couldn’t hurt.

SUSAN BOYLE – I DREAMED A DREAM

As amazing those numbers are by Lambert, given the state of the economy, the BIG engine that could will easily bypass that total. Everyone’s favorite rags-to-riches story this year, Susan Boyle, proves that dreams do come true. Well… they can with the power of YouTube and the X-Factor. She’s the only one who didn’t perform at this week’s award shows and had no major scandals, yet she’ll come out on top. Early reports say she’s on track to sell over 600K in record sales. Given the unpredictability of Black Friday, that number could even exceed that and blow by all projections.

So there it is folks. Are you as surprised as me with those number projections? Which, if any, of those offerings will you be picking up? Weigh in below with your reviews and recommendations if you’ve already bought any the mentioned CDs.

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