January is usually a slow month. Slow for new releases and, accordingly, slow for overall sales. In 2006, January had a few artists that broke the 100,000 mark: Barry Manilow, Il Divo, Josh Turner and Andrew Bocelli.

As usual, the first few Tuesdays are free of big releases. (Capitol has a Roxette greatest hits comp. Koch counters with an album of Beatles covers by The Smithereens. Slow.). The last two Tuesdays in January, though, have some big names. Some are albums that could have easily been hits had they been released in the crowded fourth quarter of 2006.

At 7:30pm ET last night, Norah Jones' upcoming album, Not Too Late (pictured), was #1 at Amazon.com. That's great news for EMI, which is counting on Jones to bolster its first quarter. The Blue Note release will be in stores on January 30th. A video of a live performance of the new song "Rosie's Lullaby" can be viewed at the album's Amazon.com page.

The Shin's Wincing The Night Away is poised for a great first quarter and should be one of the better-selling independent titles. It was #6 at Amazon.com last night. The album will be released on January 23 by Sub Pop and will be distributed by Warner Music Group's ADA Distribution.

Another WMG artist, Manhattan Records' Celtic Women, will release A New Journey on January 30th. Unknown to most people who do not watch PBS, Celtic Women have big a big success in recent years.

Sony BMG has benefitted from the country's love of "American Idol." The show is responsible for some of the biggest albums of the last few years. Another Idol has an album coming, this time by Katharine McPhee. Her self-titled debut will be released by RCA on January 30th. Her MySpace page is streaming four new songs.

On January 23, Universal Republic -- part of Universal Music Group -- will release John Mellencamp's Freedom's Road. One of the ten tracks is "Our Country," which you've heard countless times as the theme song for a new Chevy television ad campaign.