With West, good things are in store

THIS week’s national album sales chart was released Wednesday, but the pop world is already focused on next week’s results. The question: How many copies will Kanye West’s new “Late Registration” sell?

The hip-hop collection, which has been greeted by generally rave reviews, went on sale Tuesday, and early estimates from retailers suggest it could reach the 800,000 mark, said Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard magazine.

If so, “Late Registration” would have the biggest first-week sales total of any album since 50 Cent’s “The Massacre” sold 1.1 million during its first week in March, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The only other album this year to top the 500,000 mark in its first week was Coldplay’s June release “X&Y;,” which sold 737,000 copies.

Those figures show why there’s not much industry excitement over this week’s chart leader, Hilary Duff’s “Most Wanted.” The greatest-hits collection sold 101,000 copies to hold onto the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive week.

The singer-actress’ CD entered the chart at No. 1 last week by selling 236,000 copies. The second-week total was the lowest for a No. 1 album since Green Day’s “American Idiot” sold 100,000 copies in January.

The remaining spots in the Top 10 are held by, in order, volume 19 of the hit compilation series “Now That’s What I Call Music,” Mariah Carey, the Black Eyed Peas, rapper Jim Jones, Brad Paisley, Young Jeezy, Gorillaz, Kelly Clarkson and Green Day.