1. Taylor Swift "Fearless"

Sales this week: 592,304
Debut

Mr. Lefsetz,

The one thing you say you are looking for is an artist writing and living in real time and relating it to his/her fans.  Nobody is doing that better than Taylor Swift.  She has an engagement in person and online that is currently second to none.  And it starts and ends with her music.  Music & lyrics that she predominantly writes entirely by herself.

She doesn’t need the endorsement of middle aged men but ironically she leads in the space that you write about nearly every day.

So, please understand, her music and performances are not for you.  They are for her millions of fans.  Fans that she has earned by working tirelessly 24/7 since she could strum a guitar, not brought on by a TV show or some dumb luck.  She has done it with the new grassroots engagement of internet, radio and all media.  She wins because she can back it up when the attention is on her.  But more importantly her fans love her.  And she loves them.

Regards,

Scott Borchetta

2. David Archuleta

Sales this week: 182,927
Debut

If they wanted to sell tonnage the producers would have stock albums already produced that they can slot the winning singer’s vocals into and release the day after the final. Better yet, the night of, since iTunes sponsors "American Idol".  That’s when everybody’s paying attention.  These records sell on hype, not quality.  They’re not about careers, they’re about moments.

Maybe a pre-recorded album in every genre.  Rock, pop, country…

Oh, isn’t that what Nashville and New York do anyway?

(And yes, I know Archuleta was the runner-up, but you make records based on popularity.  There should have been a Sanjaya record too, available the night he got voted off.)

3. Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 29

Sales this week: 172,372
Debut

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/arts/music/12now.html?_r=2&ref=arts&oref=login&oref=slogin

Yes, read that article for all you need to know about the Now series.

You know things are truly fucked up when they’re creating brand extensions of this concept.  But I guess you would too if your first week sales were now off by 50% and your last two volumes had not sold a million.

Then again, who needs a compilation of disparate tracks when you can buy the singles you want on iTunes?

Sure, these are impulse items at grocery stores, but how much longer will grocery stores stock CDs?

5. Twilight

Sales this week: 106,521
Percentage change: -35
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 271,847

All you’ve got to know is that this phenomenon started with a BOOK!

It’s not the format, but the quality.  And it hasn’t been about the quality for far too long in the record business.  If you create something good, word of mouth will sell it.

6. AC/DC "Black Ice"

Sales this week: 105,146
Percentage change: -34
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 1,319,914

Wal-Mart is for has-beens.  Creating buzz at Wal-Mart is like telling me it’s happening at the unemployment office.  Or the old folks home.

You need to appeal to younger buyers.  You want to be in front of their eyes at the iTunes Store.  Hitting the top of the home page chart every single day, never mind the initial splash upon release.

Putting out an album solely at Wal-Mart is like making a movie solely for DVD.  It’s the theatrical weekend opening publicity that gets everybody’s attention.

Nah, that’s not a perfect analogy.  How about selling skateboards at Starbucks, because that’s where parents, who’ve got all the money, go.

But at least there’s a Starbucks on every corner.

Bottom line, if you want to be underground, you don’t make a deal with Wal-Mart, it hurts your cred.  If you’ve been absent the scene for almost a decade, you don’t want to leave out the number one retailer.

But welcome to the modern day music business, where he who writes the biggest check gets the product.  It’s not about career management, but money management.

9. Christina Aguilera "Keeps Gettin’ Better"

Sales this week: 72,869
Debut

I need an interpreter.  Exactly what is getting better?

Certainly not her music, it’s been forgettable from the start.

Certainly not her album sales…

Maybe her personal life.  I hope her personal life.  Because she doesn’t have the career she thinks she does based on these anemic sales.

Greatest hits albums are no longer the cheap, end of the year, cleanup revenue they once were.  Even if they have a couple of new tracks.

11. Pink "Funhouse"

Sales this week: 52,817
Percentage change: -28
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 306,515

The old music business.  Get a pretty face, someone whose best assets are not musical, put her together with producer du jour and spend a fortune to hype the hell out of it to try and break some singles.  With the new twist of a 360 deal so you can profit from road revenue.  But if you’ve got no hits, no one wants to see you.  A great touring act is not dependent on chart success.  That’s where the real money is.  Chasing hits is too much effort for too little return.

13. Seal "Soul"

Sales this week: 44,781
Debut

Sad.

But that’s what happens when your best record is your first.  It’s all downhill from there.

Covers are the last gasp of the truly desperate.

15. Rascal Flatts "Greatest Hits Volume 1"

Sales this week: 38,812
Percentage change: -1
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 166,570

Wow, to think who they once were.

Will there be a "Greatest Hits Volume 2"?

I highly doubt it.  Then again, there are no limits to record company marketing.

Give these guys their own TV show.  They’re affable, likable.  Maybe a kiddie country show on their benefactor Disney’s outlet.

Those country listeners have now got computers and iPods.  The future may have arrived late, but so many of those counties that voted red in the last election went blue this year.  Country has gone digital, its listeners have options, change is here.

16. Hinder "Take It To The Limit"

Sales this week: 36,340
Percentage change: -55
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 117,752

Wasn’t there anybody at the label who could tell them that this is the title of a famous Eagles song?  And that no one whose career is based on ballad success should flaunt testing limits?

18. Kenny Chesney "Lucky Old Sun"

Sales this week: 32,663
Percentage change: +12
Weeks on: 5
Cume: 367,410

So what happens when he goes on tour next summer?

He did soft stadium business in many locations even paired with Keith Urban, never mind Sammy Hagar…

Do we trot out Garth one more time, to try and give everyone the impression that country is still king, or do we come to grips with the fact that country has gone back to niche?


17. Kid Rock "Rock N Roll Jesus"

Sales this week: 34,929
Percentage change: +16
Weeks on: 58
Cume: 2,373,294

Mr. Chesney should reach out to Mr. Ritchie to have him co-headline next year’s stadium jaunt.  Yes, innovative packaging is gonna be key this summer.  Bang for the buck.

19. Metallica "Death Magnetic"

Sales this week: 30,827
Percentage change: -6
Weeks on: 10
Cume: 1,315,129

When it’s all said and done, who sells more albums, Metallica or AC/DC?

I’m betting on Metallica.

After Christmas, that AC/DC store within a store is going to come down in Wal-Mart, floorspace is too valuable.  The Eagles’ sales tanked not long after Christmas, expect AC/DC’s to too.

Metallica…  Run by management company.

AC/DC…  Run by record label.

Proving once again, if you want to have long term success, you need a great manager.

Will Metallica ever recover from the Napster debacle?

Probably not.  But this album and the live show have brought them back to a significant degree.  It was the right move at the right time.

But there should be a publicity blackout.  That story in "Rolling Stone" about them flying in separate private jets?  Metallica’s base is blue collar.  The band has earned the right to its extravagant, luxurious lifestyle but it shouldn’t flaunt it.  That only works for popsters like Christina Aguilera…  Oops, that doesn’t work anymore for her either.

22. Brad Paisley "Play"

Sales this week: 26,980
Percentage change: -50
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 80,729

"Start A Band" is so bad, so hackneyed, that you’d think it’s Christian Rock.  Anybody who thinks country is the land of substandard rock will get confirmation by listening to this track.  Couldn’t anybody involved with Paisley tell him this was a B-level cut at best?  So bad, it couldn’t even be filler on a Bob Seger album?  Sure, he and Keith Urban pick well, but nothing makes up for lousy material.

I’m stunned he put this out.

28. Jonas Brothers "Little Bit Longer"

Sales this week: 22,254
Percentage change: +15
Weeks on: 14
Cume: 1,096,771

Pretty anemic sales figure for all that buzz, don’t you think?

It appears they’ll be lucky if their buzz lasts a little bit longer.

30. Celine Dion "My Love-Essential Collection"

Sales this week: 21,878
Percentage change: -15
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 105,849

Essential to whom?

Some things never change.  Vegas is still the last stop.  Once you go there, you never come back.

40. Darius Rucker "Learn To Live"

Sales this week: 17,758
Percentage change: +53
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 204,174

A number one country single does not guarantee the sale of albums.

The bounce is from the CMA Awards.  And it’s not that big.

48. James Taylor "Covers"

Sales this week: 15,084
Percentage change: -10
Weeks on: 7
Cume: 240,155

I’m not the only one who thinks this album sucks.

This is what Jim Fusilli said in the "Wall Street Journal" yesterday:

"Which means when Mr. Taylor sets out to record an album of other people’s songs, he’s off to the familiar recycling bin, and the result is something like his recent release, ‘Covers,’ an album so lacking in imagination that all you have to do is read the song titles and you know what his interpretations will sound like."

Mr. Fusilli goes on to say oldsters should be recording the works of youngsters.  But I won’t agree with him that there’s a plethora of good young songwriting out there.  Because no one encourages it.  The majors want hacks to write bland, everyman crap and there’s no one beating down the wannabes to tell them to work harder, to forget the cliches, to speak their truth.  There are no Bob Dylans, Joni Mitchells or Jackson Brownes coming out of basements.  But there could be, if someone nurtured these youngsters.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122696707696335397.html

57. Tracy Chapman "Our Bright Future"

Sales this week: 12,245
Debut

Give me one good reason why anybody would care.

______________________________

I could continue to plow through the rest of the Top 200, but all you need to know is on the catalog chart.

The number three catalog record is Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s "Lost Christmas Eve".  It sold 13,610 copies last week, for a cume of 1,615,997.  That’s more than AC/DC’s "Back In Black", which sold 10,640.

Meanwhile, Trans-Siberian’s "Christmas Eve & Other Stories" is at number 10, moving 8,558, for a cume of 2,789,649.

Sure, Christmas comes every year.  But not always for the same albums.  And one act doesn’t own multiple slots in the top ten.

But TSO does.  Because TSO didn’t play by traditional record business rules.  TSO was built on the road!

A cheap ticket.  Show comes back every year, like the circus.  It’s a tradition.  The album is a souvenir!

And the album is rock, when so many of the Christmas albums are wimpy.

Jason Flom gave the green light, Paul O’Neill shepherded the records, but the vision was David Krebs’.  He built it from scratch.  With no names.  I know because he told me way in advance and I didn’t believe it.

But every great project has a great manager behind it.  Who believes and devotes focus even when revenue is not pouring in.  A manager has vision.   There hasn’t been vision at the labels in eons.

Management is a license to starve.  Unlike a label gig, you don’t get paid unless your act hits.  But knowing this, you do your best to only pick winners and work incredibly hard.

TSO represents the future.  If you want to sell an album, then there truly must be a concept.  Radio play is a lucky break.  You win by building fan support, on the road.  Giving value for the money.  Not charging a fortune, ripping people off once to such a degree that they’ll never come back.  You only truly profit when they do come back.  And they love you because of your music, not your chart success.