Backstreet Boys album poised for chart-topping bow

New albums by Backstreet Boys and Foo Fighters are both on track to start above 250,000 copies, with the former having a genuine shot to debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 when sales data are issued Wednesday.

Based on first-day sales Tuesday cited by retail chains, chart pundits figure Backstreet's "Never Gone" could hit 300,000 copies in the week ended June 19.

The group's chances of landing its third No. 1 album depend on how large a second-week decline Coldplay's chart-topping "X&Y" suffers from its opening stand of 737,000. Of the last six albums to bow at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, the largest second-week dip was 67% for Nine Inch Nails' "With Teeth" (Nothing/Interscope), while the smallest was 42% for Rob Thomas' "...Something To Be".

Foo Fighters' "In Your Honor" should open in the neighborhood of 260,000-280,000, says a source close to the album. The band's largest prior week was 121,000 for fourth album "One By One" the week that it opened at No. 3 in 2002. 

                                                                             (yahoo)

pundit : a source of opinion; a critic（权威人士，专家，批评家）