Update: Maybe we spoke too soon. Daft Punk has pushed back their Tron soundtrack to December 7th.
Black Friday is usually the term Americans use to refer to the day after Thanksgiving and it is usually mis-identified as the busiest shopping day of the year (which is more often the Saturday before Christmas). Why am I giving you this little bit of trivia in the beginning of October? Because the final music releases of 2010 are finalizing their release dates and I wanted to prepare you for the logjam of records you will need to absorb over the November holiday weekend.
If you have visited our nifty upcoming release calendar, you may have noted the importance of November 22nd. Currently we have Daft Punk penciled in with their score for Tron 2 as well as My Chemical Romance’s long overdue follow-up to 2006’s The Black Parade. Up and coming MC Nicki Minaj is also set to drop her long-awaited debut Pink Friday. Plus, I am contractually obligated by my employer to note that the most important album, well, ever, will also be out on that date, just in time for Thanksgiving shopping. (Alex actually wanted us to mention Kanye in every post from now on, but we drew the line at every other post.)
But in seriousness, even making all these albums available on a Monday, rather than the typical Tuesday, won’t prepare Walmart and Target for the movement of albums they will see. We are talking dozens!
Though Kanye West‘s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy seems like an undefeatable opponent, perhaps the one album that could stand a chance is now rumored to be settling on the 22nd as a release date, too. Because Jay-Z has never seemed to shy away from a challenge and what better day to offer his best-of, titled The Hits Collection: Volume 1. A sure-fire winner of a Hanukkah gift, the compilation could be setting itself up for a 50 Cent/Kanye replay, but with a new opponent for the Chicago native (via Exclaim).
You might remember Kanye defeated 50 on that occasion, but the two did combine to sell 1.5 million records. Competition can be a good thing. We’ll see if Jay-Z is indeed game for this, but November 23rd is also available, with the reissue of High Violet in a deluxe format being the most notable album scheduled.
Stay tuned to see how this plays out…