Sales-Week Ending 4/6/08
1. George Strait "Troubadour"
Sales this week: 166,305
Debut
I’ve got a complaint re country radio. There’s no movement on the chart. Records stay on for months. Is this good for the scene? I’d say not. I’d say the usual suspects who control Nashville and country radio are doing a disservice to the format, eliminating some of the excitement. More new records and faster chart movement gets the audience energized. Hearing the same records over and over again just frustrates people. But when has the music industry ever worried about frustrating people?
I’m a fan of George. He may be a superstar, but these are not superstar numbers. Even country sales are off now.
2. R.E.M. "Accelerate"
Sales this week: 115,458
Debut
Get the feeling they’re pulling out all the stops to get a hefty advance from Warner once again?
What did Ian Hunter say, once bitten, twice shy?
Maybe if they go back to an independent, and release more music, they’ll get the formula back.
The endless live shows and attendant hype got me to pay attention. I heard a song on the radio I liked, "Hairshirt"… Then I found out it was on "Green", an almost twenty year old track. None of the new cuts I’ve heard were even this good.
Meanwhile, read this, it’s hilarious:
5. Alvin & The Chipmunks "Soundtrack"
Sales this week: 50,923
Percentage change: +111%
Weeks on: 18
Cume: 551,749
Theodore told me the sales boost had to do with their spring break gigs. Now that everybody’s back from Cancun, college students need the record, as the soundtrack to their vacation. Rumors as to Simon’s O.D. are not true. Yes, he’s frustrated not being the star, but Lenny Waronker called in from retirement to give a pep talk to the singer, since he was named after Lenny’s father, and the situation has stabilized. But Alvin did get scabies, having had just too good a time south of the border. They say what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico, but in this case, that’s untrue.
Expect a sales boost the week of the 19th, when their DVD drops. Sans the extras with Kanye that were rumored. The Chipmunks need no help, they’re CAREER ARTISTS!
As for the future, Timbaland has been contacted to produce and Justin Timberlake has made a commitment to appear on the album, since he grew up listening to the act. Yes, they turned down Madonna, believing she didn’t appeal to their target demographic, but they are not averse to sharing the spotlight, as long as they get top billing.
Razor & Tie has been quiet. Fearful that the major labels will realize that smart signings are more important than infrastructure. As for Guy Hands buying the label, to own its moxie, there’s no paper yet. But that’s got to be a better deal than hiring the INFORMATION OFFICER of Google. Isn’t that like Edgar Bronfman, Jr. hiring Lyor Cohen, the street guy as opposed to the recording mogul?
8. Counting Crows "Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings"
Sales this week: 43,336
Percentage change: -59%
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 150,002
If their first album hadn’t been produced by T-Bone Burnett, they’d all be working at Best Buy.
Depending on who you listen to, this album is a step in the right direction, or just another landmark on the endless descent. All we do know is it’s sans magic, it’s just a collection of songs. T-Bone adds the magic.
11. Rolling Stones "Shine A Light"
Sales this week: 36,989
Debut
The real question is whether EMI would have sold any more.
In any event, this album’s going to fall right off the chart, there’s no big money to be made here.
But I’ve got to tell you, I played the sampler album. And it wasn’t bad until I got to "As Tears Go By". A sweet, plaintive song in its original incarnation, but the live take is an horrific turkey shouted by an aging star who might be trading on his youth, which he has most certainly lost. It was positively AWFUL! I’m not one for saying ANYBODY should retire, but listening to this, I wished the band had hung it up.
Jagger gave up singing long ago. Hell, he gave up ENUNCIATING long ago. Working with Christina Aguilera? We hated shit like that when the Stones were king. Would they have done a duet with Olivia Newton John? But, you’ve got to keep current for the kids. You’ve got to appeal to all demos. You’ve got to stunt. Because being the Stones just ain’t good enough anymore. Maybe not too proud to beg, but they’ll grovel.
13. Jack Johnson "Sleep Through The Static"
Sales this week: 31,060
Percentage change: -15%
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 1,006,270
Signed by an independent. Developed by an independent. A major can’t see shit like this, can’t ferret this stuff out. They just want more of what came before, what they can SELL!
Will the next Jack Johnson jump to a major? Which will want a piece of touring and merch? I doubt it.
22. Gnarls Barkley "Odd Couple"
Sales this week: 23,140
Percentage change: -20%
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 83,061
It was about "Crazy". This was not an album act, but a band with a huge hit single, every bit as good as that hit single of yore, "All Right Now". But Free couldn’t sell albums and stay together, people were fans of the track and not the band.
Weird, to cut something SO GOOD that it kills your career.
23. George Michael "Twenty-Five"
Sales this week: 22, 717
Debut
A piss poor number. But why would anybody buy this anyway?
If only he would cut some new material.
I’m not a fan, but "Father Figure" is spectacular, even sans the film noir video. But these eighties acts, with their MTV platform in decline, barely showing any videos, have nowhere to go, nowhere to break their music. Not so different from the situation confronting the classic acts.
Then again, could George Michael CUT a great new record?
27. Moby "Last Night"
Sales this week: 21,161
Debut
Funny how the spin has changed. Now his career was KILLED by all the commercial licensing. Which way is it? Do you want to license to break or does it hurt your career?
Actually, I don’t think licensing broke "Play". The album percolated in the marketplace until music television and radio jumped on a cut and the juggernaut began. "Play" was better than almost all albums released today (I won’t say ABSOLUTELY ALL albums, because I haven’t heard them all!) Could it still build to success today? Yup! But, unfortunately, Moby released one turkey after another after "Play" and killed his career. He’s only got himself to blame.
He needs a manager. Maybe Michael McDonald. Who allows John Mayer to be himself, to take risks, to overexpose himself, to be a twenty first century artist, but leavens this behavior with some practical wisdom.
Moby’s a dork and it’s not working for him. It’s all right to be a dork today, but you need the right IMAGING!
44. Garth Brooks "Ultimate Hits"
Sales this week: 14,854
Percentage change: +9%
Weeks on: 22
Cume: 1,680,209
I challenge Garth to truly come back. To cut some new material, see if he can compete on radio, on television, in the public eye. These pussyfooting intense live stands are stunts, from someone who says he’s retired, but is really afraid that he doesn’t have the stature he used to.
Garth, are you really bigger than Carrie Underwood? Come out and PROVE IT!
Meanwhile, have you noticed how the buzz of those live shows faded so fast?
As for doing multiple shows at Staples… Garth, live music isn’t a movie. It’s not about getting what you expect, but MORE! Every fan wants you to play all night, wants to believe you MIGHT play all night, that based on the energy coming back from the crowd you’re going to throw out the set list, surprise them and stay until the toilets overflow. By scheduling shows within hours of each other, everyone knows the magic won’t appear, that everything’s calculated.
Pissed off yet Garth? I know you’re reading this. You wanted it so bad, you worked so hard, you brought rock theatrics to country. Come back and SAVE US! We need a Tiger Woods in the music business.
54. Simon & Garfunkel "Live 1969"
Sales this week: 13,178
Percentage change: -17%
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 29,177
The old model was based on scarcity. There were limited albums and you had to go to the show to see the act. So, nobody would license anything, they didn’t want to lose control, they didn’t want to be overexposed.
Released after "Bookends", this live album is multiplatinum. Today… It gets a shoulder shrug, from those even aware it’s out.
Maybe you shouldn’t do commercials, or endorsements, but your music? Make it all available everywhere all the time. The fans want it now. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a career, and they’ll want it in the future.
56. Eagles "Long Road Out Of Eden"
Sales this week: 12,243
Percentage change: 0
Weeks on: 23
Cume: 2,909,947
Interesting… Last week it sold 12,300… Why is the number almost exactly THE SAME! Could it be that the Eagles’ sales number is not real?
I’d like to believe it is. But there’s not a single sales exec in the business who feels this way.
Chuck Phillips. Will you stop chasing Biggie and Tupac’s killers and investigate this? It’ll be much easier to get to the bottom of, after all, no one died. Did the Eagles really sell all these albums?
73. Vampire Weekend
Sales this week: 10,157
Percentage change: -21%
Weeks on: 10
Cume: 166,079
You know the record’s not bad, pretty catchy, in fact. But they STILL sucked on Letterman!
Meanwhile, speaking of the afro-beat, have you read THIS??
84. Sheryl Crow "Detours"
Sales this week: 9,430
Percentage change: -17%
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 276,118
She’s got to fuck Greg LeMond. It’s her only choice.
Sheryl’s caught in a no-man’s land. She’s too old for the hit parade and doesn’t cut that kind of material anyway. She went back to work with Bill Bottrell, and that didn’t solve her sales problem. Shit, she was just on "Dancing With The Stars" and I doubt there will be any significant sales bounce. Either she’s got to accept she’s a journeyman(woman), or go all PerezHilton on us. Do something egregious, create a train-wreck we can’t avoid, that will get people talking about her again and buying her record.
I’d say go with LeMond, the greatest critic of Lance Armstrong, saying he doped his way to victory at the Tour de France. And LeMond would know, he won there first.
Or maybe Sheryl could date Prince Charles. Or maybe Perez himself. Sheryl’s so seductive, maybe she can turn this gay man straight.
Even if she cut her "Nick Of Time", it’s not 1989 anymore. About time she accepts it, goes out of circulation for a while and then starts her COMEBACK TOUR! In Vegas, an extended run so she can be near her growing child.
Come on Sheryl, GET CREATIVE!
88. Yael Naim
Sales this week: 8,357
Percentage change: -25%
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 58,193
I guess the MacBook Air doesn’t sell records like the iPod.
89. Joe Satriani "Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock"
Sales this week: 8,292
Debut
He’s still making records? WHO KNEW?
Great stylist, not a bad guy, but he lacks one key talent, SONGWRITING!
98. Black Crowes "Warpaint"
Sales this week: 7,587
Percentage change: -24%
Weeks on: 5
Cume: 92,880
In the old days, I’d ruminate how shitty this number is, how the band is fucked, how they deserve to lose their deal. But isn’t their deal with themselves now? (Truly a deal with the devil?)
It’s not about record sales. The release of the record just generates heat for the tour, where you’re going to get high and hit on the girls in their summer clothes. Hopefully, they won’t be too hard to handle.
107. Puddle Of Mudd "Famous"
Sales this week: 7,149
Percentage change: +7%
Weeks on: 16
Cume: 204,836
You might be astounded to know that Puddle Of Mudd’s "Psycho" is number one on MediaBase’s Active Rock chart. I certainly was… I thought the band had broken up!
But if you go to number one on Active Rock and you only sell 7,149 records a week, that proves that the Active Rock audience is so active that they’ve tuned out, that they’ve got no time for the jive jocks and the endless commercials, they’re listening to their iPODS!
How Puddle Of Mudd got to 204,836, I don’t know. Maybe there was a previous radio track, maybe there are still POM fans out there, but if you’re spending the big bucks on an act betting for a return at Active Rock radio, FORGET IT!
137. Jay-Z "American Gangster"
Sales this week: 5,609
Percentage change: -2%
Weeks on: 22
Cume: 1,050,318
I’m thinking Mary J is selling most of those tickets. Furthermore, is Jay-Z worth that much money if he has to go out as a PACKAGE!
If Jay was truly the innovative businessman everybody says he is, then he should have made a deal for this disc to be included with the DVD of the movie. Couldn’t Live Nation broker a deal like this? Or is it JIVE NATION?
139. Kylie Minogue "X"
Sales this week: 5,588
Debut
Give her a hamburger, before she starves to death.
Two-dimensional doesn’t work in America unless we made you in the FIRST PLACE! She wasn’t on American TV, she’s got no obvious talent, you’re surprised no one cares?
162. Keith Urban "Greatest Hits"
Sales this week: 4,772
Percentage change: -1%
Weeks on: 20
Cume: 513,386
The reason they put out these greatest hits albums is because Wal-Mart won’t stock the catalogue!
Bob:Your email today got me thinking about this past Weds. night and an earlier email of yours.
Our daughter is 12 and we took her to the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore to see Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. Of course Carrie did a nice job but you can see that she has some maturing to do with her stage presence, but all in all a nice show and my daughter loved it.
Then Keith Urban came out. I told my daughter to hang on as I had heard he was good. Now I am not going to do that rock and rock "cred" thing but suffice to say I am 54 and my first of many big concerts was Jimi Hendrix also in that same arena about 4 months before his death.
Keith Urban was fantastic, what a show! One of the best I have EVER seen. Many times over the years I have gone to see big name acts and I find myself checking my watch after an hour or so. When I left Keith’s show, I felt I was leaving home after being on vacation, I was bummed out it was over. WOW. I kept think about it yesterday. I think his audience rapport equals or even exceeds Springsteen’s. He really made everyone in the arena feel that he was glad they were there. Great staging too. Went out into the crowd, gave away a guitar and did a nice surprise duet with Carrie (Stop dragging my heart around….they should release it, it was GREAT). It was too loud, but they all are nowadays (maybe I am just getting old!). I have tinnitus (too much loud music) so I wear good quality ear plugs (I know, I’m a dork, but I want to save what is left). His blend of rockers and laid-back acoustic country/rock makes for a nice dynamic. It blew my daughter’s mind, she had never seen anything like it and I was glad to be able to share it with her. I listened to his albums for all of my 100 RT mile commute yesterday. $300 well spent.
Just had to tell you,
Denman Schmid
You think this guy’ll go back? Not only do you have to sell the ticket, you have to be GOOD!
189. Kenny G "Rhythm & Romance"
Sales this week: 3,897
Percentage change: -20%
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 127,974
They don’t even want his record at Starbucks!
Maybe Michael Buble or Josh Groban, but not Kenny G. EVERY Starbucks customer knows he’s execrable. This deal needed to be made with WAL-MART!
Then again, is business so shitty that this figure is actually GOOD?
