gossip

LOS ANGELES, May 21 — It’s “Glee” versus the Glimmer Twins on next week’s US pop album chart, as the latest release from the TV series vies for top honours with the reissue of the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street.”

Industry gurus think the “Glee: Showstoppers” soundtrack will debut at No 1 on the Billboard 200, selling perhaps 80,000 to 100,000 copies by week’s end on May 23 — enough to unseat current champ Justin Bieber. Rankings will be released on Wednesday.

The cast of “Glee” notched its first No 1 recently with “The Power of Madonna,” when that seven-song mini-album arrived in the penthouse with 98,000. “Showstoppers” is the third proper full-length soundtrack from the hit Fox TV show. The first two volumes arrived in quick succession last November and December.

But another album looking for a high placement on the Billboard 200 next week is the Stones’ 1972 album “Exile on Main Street,” which is being reissued with rare bonus tracks.

There’s a chance that the set — which spent four weeks at No 1 on the chart that year — could give the “Glee” album a run for its money for No 1 next week. The set was co-produced by the Glimmer Twins, the nom de plume of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Other sets expected to debut high on the Billboard 200 next week include Black Keys’ “Brothers,” Band of Horses’ “Infinite Arms,” Nas and Damian Marley’s “Distant Relatives” and LCD Soundsystem’s “This Is Happening.”

Bieber’s “My World 2.0.” sold 60,300 copies during the week ended May 16, the second-lowest sales tally for a No 1 album since tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan started keeping data in May 1991. — Reuters