Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

POP/ROCK

Album Battle: Garth Brooks’ new album, “Sevens,” sold about 375,000 copies during its first day in stores Tuesday, according to Capitol Nashville estimates based on the label’s conversations with 14 of its top 16 retail accounts. If the figure is correct, it would be more albums sold in a single day than all but five albums have sold in entire weeks so far this year. And going into the Thanksgiving weekend sales rush, the figure positions “Sevens” to challenge the SoundScan era first-week sales record of 950,000 copies, set in 1993 by Pearl Jam’s “Vs.” Nonetheless, there’s some question whether Brooks’ album will enter the chart at No. 1 when the week’s SoundScan figures are tallied next Wednesday. Sources at the Musicland Group and Best Buy, two of the nation’s biggest retail music chains, said the Brooks album was outsold at their stores Tuesday by 2Pac’s posthumous two-disc collection, “R U Still Down? (Remember Me).” Jive Records, which distributes the 2Pac album, said it sold “more than 200,000 copies” Tuesday at 10 retailers that it checked.

AMUSEMENTS

Snow Job: They’ve left out the U-2 planes over Iraq, but Disneyland officials have sent sugar plum fairies into the air over Holland and dispatched reindeer to the Pacific islands for their holiday revamping of the famous It’s a Small World attraction. It’s the first major tinkering park designers have done on the ride since it was moved to Anaheim in 1966 from the New York World’s Fair, for which it was created two years earlier. Those who visit Small World today through Jan. 4 will hear “Jingle Bells” wedded to the familiar strains of the “It’s a Small World” theme song on the 14-minute journey through seven international regions.

QUICK TAKES

Nashville doctors said Wednesday that singer Johnny Cash, 65, has fully recovered from pneumonia but will remain hospitalized for treatment of Shy-Drager’s Syndrome, a disease related to Parkinson’s . . . . Although still ranking behind Oprah Winfrey, “The Jerry Springer Show” surpassed “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” in national syndicated talk-show ratings for the first time during the week of Nov. 10 to 15, according to Nielsen figures released Wednesday.