THEY'RE BUYING IT

People who Reuters call, splendidly, "chart prognosticators" (i.e people who are a little to free with the information they're meant to keep to themselves) are predicting that not only is Mariah Carey's new album going to shoot in at number one in the US, but she's selling more albums now than any of her other titles managed in the first week.

Having said which, of course, we're still only talking about 350,000 copies sold; it's a measurement of how deep her hardcore fanbase is - the question is: can she sell beyond them? This'll give her a good chance. Which means we could be in for four more years. America, not for the first time, we're very disappointed in you.

music mariah carey