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Drake is postponing his 10-city European tour because his mother is undergoing surgery.

The 23-year-old rapper says in a statement that he wants to support his mother during her recovery "just as she supported me through the years."

The statement doesn't say what kind of surgery Drake's mother is going to have.

The European leg of his "The Away From Home Tour" had been scheduled to kick off Friday in Norway. It will be rescheduled for November.

Drake will still tour in his home country of Canada, starting July 16 in Ottawa.

Last month, Drake released his first full-length album, the gold-selling "Thank Me Later."

The record industry just scored its own golden goal. Can a full Recovery be far behind?

Offering conclusive proof that Marshall still matters, Eminem’s aptly named Recovery will score the year’s highest sales debut. Look for a total of between 590-615k for the Shady/Aftermath/Interscope album, easily beating Sade’s 503k back in February. It could also beat his last album, Relapse, which sold 608k in its first week in May ’09.

That’s based on totals from those music retailers who haven’t painted their faces red, white and blue and shown up in South Africa with vuvuzelas in tow for the World Cup.

In addition, Em’s duet with Rihanna, “Love the Way You Lie,” has currently supplanted Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” as the top iTunes download.

With this week’s sales champ, Drake’s Thank Me Later album, looking like #2 in its second week, the next biggest debut will be Hollywood’s Miley Cyrus album, clocking in at 115-125k, as the Disney teen star looks to shed her wholesome Hannah Montana image.

Epic’s Ozzy Osbourne album, Scream, is next at 65-70k, followed by Def Jam/IDJ’s The Roots (35-40k), Kedar Entertainment’s Keith Sweat (20-25k) and JW/Big Machine/Universal Republic’s Jaron & the Long Road to Love (18-21k), which is the new group from one-half of the early 2000s pop-rock duo Evan & Jaron.

The market was up 9% vs. last week, down 9% vs. same week last year and still down 11% year to date, but next week’s chart should offer the first boost in awhile. A year ago, Michael Jackson had the first three chart entries on the HITS Top 50, while Black Eyed Peas topped Soundscan with 88k, just before they added catalog to their currents chart.

SOURCE: HitsDailyDouble

VIA: HITSDAILYDOUBLE

You can Thank him now, or Thank him Later, but the record industry should show its gratitude somehow because Drake’s new album is the first blockbuster of the summer, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The half-Jewish Toronto hip-hop star, who got his start in the teen TV cult hit Degrassi: The Next Generation, goes to the head of the class this week on his Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown debut, Thank Me Later, with first-week sales in the 450-475k range, making it a lock for #1.

Based on one-day sales reports from those retailers still blowing their own vuvezelas, that would be the third highest-total this year following Sade (501k) and Lady Antebellum (481k).

The postponed album comes to retail fresh off a pair of Drake hits in “Over” and “Find Your Love" and a series of underground mixtapes.

VIA: HitsDailyDouble.com