The cover of Ne-Yo’s new album, ‘R.E.D.’.

Early sales predictions indicated that Ne-Yo’s ‘R.E.D.’ album would have started on the US charts with the lowest first week sales of his career. Despite being almost accurate, there was a small ray of light in the life of the singer as the actual number wasn’t as low as projected.

‘R.E.D.’ entered the Billboard 200 this week with sales of 66K copies, thus exceeding the 55K cap predicted last week. Still, although they earned him his 5th consecutive top 10 album, these figures represent the lowest of Ne-Yo’s career with little over half of the 112K units that his previous LP, ‘Libra Scale’, sold upon entry on the chart in 2010.

Elsewhere, on Billboard Hot 100, Rihanna and Ke$ha resumed their battle for chart supremacy as both their singles climbed closer to the #1 spot. Thanks to her performance of the song on ‘SNL’ and the release of its accompanying video, Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ advanced to #2 on the lineup whereas Ke$ha’s ‘Die Young’ rebounded from #6 to #3.

See the other leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. Taylor Swift – ‘Red’ – 196K (total: 1.75 M)

2. Various Artists – ‘Now 44′ – 99K (debut)

3. Rod Stewart - ‘Merry Christmas, Baby’ – 74K (total: 162K)

4. Ne-Yo – ‘R.E.D.’ – 66K (debut)

5. Aerosmith – ‘Music From Another Dimension’ - 63K (debut)

6. Jason Aldean - ‘Night Train’ – 48K (total: 644K)

7. Mumford & Sons – ‘Babel’ – 41K (total: 1.06 M)

8. Meek Mill - ‘Dreams & Nightmares’ – 41K (total: 206K)

9. Kendrick Lamar - ’Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City’ – 40K  (total: 344K)

10. Third Day - ‘Miracle’ – 29K (debut)

Billboard Hot 100

1. Maroon 5 – ‘One More Night’

2. Rihanna – ‘Diamonds’

3. Ke$ha – ‘Die Young’

4. fun. – ‘Some Nights’

5. PSY – ‘Gangnam Style’

6. Bruno Mars – ‘Locked Out of Heaven’

7. Taylor Swift – ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’

8. Ne-Yo – ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’

9. Alex Clare – ‘Too Close’

10. Flo Rida – ‘I Cry’

Watch the video for Ne-Yo’s ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)’ from ‘R.E.D.’ below:

Thoughts?