We know already that the sophomore album from Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now” will almost certainly make their debut at No. 1 next week on Billboard’s 200 chart. However, now it seems the album is going to sell even more copies than was originally anticipated.

A lot more.

On Tuesday January 26, the day the album was released, industry sources were thinking the set from country’s trio would move about 325,000 units by Sunday January 31. However by Wednesday the forecast had grown to 350,000 copies at least. Now industry experts are thinking the album from Capitol may sell as many as 425,00 copies during the first week of its release.

How big is that number? To put things into perspective, the last time there was a debut by a country album that sold at least 400,000 copies was in November 2008. “Fearless” by Taylor Swift debuted on Billboard in the No. 1 position by selling 592,000 copies. It’s been rare lately to see any album, regardless of genre, debut with over 400,000 copies. In 2009, there were only six albums that debuted with over 400,000 units sold during their first week.

Sales projections for Lady Antebellum are based on internal data from industry sources. The final numbers from Nielsen SoundScan that are reflected in Billboard’s 200 album chart will not get released until February 3.

Some other albums that appeared to be headed for high debuts next week on Billboard’s 200 chart include “What Is Love?” by Never Shout Never, “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time” by Barry Manilow, “Songs From The Heart” by Celtic Woman, and “The Sea” by Corinne Bailey Rae.