Usher-Bieber connection

FIVE TO ONE: This week’s big retail stories are LaFace/JLG’s Usher, who bows with an impressive 346k, and his 16-year-old protégé Justin Bieber, whose Island/IDJ album is up 4% in its second week with another 292k, compared to the typical week two drop of 60-70%. Though many were surprised to see Usher sell so well in the absence of a major radio hit, dial watchers point out that the cumulative audience on the five tracks from the LP spinning at radio is as large as that for one across-the-board hit. Manager Scooter Braun and Usher, who teamed to form the Raymond-Braun Media Group, brought Bieber to L.A. Reid. (4/8a)