196. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros "Up From Below"

Sales this week: 2,594
Percentage change: +2
Weeks on: 5
Cume: 79,201

Buzz ain’t what it used to be.

In the old days, you tried to get lucky.  Get on a station and then catch fire from there.  Or impress the honchos at MTV and get your video added.  Now, you’ve got buzz, and every single record is a hard sell.

Sure, you can still catch fire.  But it might be years after release, especially if you don’t make music that fits the Hot AC, Country or Top Forty radio formats, which drive the majority of sales.

190.  Slipknot "All Hope Is Gone"

Sales this week: 2,715
Percentage change: 0
Weeks on: 20
Cume: 938,669

Airplay isn’t everything.

You’re either a fan of Slipknot, or you’re not.  And most people aren’t.  Which is why those who are are even more devoted.

Don’t be too impressed with the cume though, this record was released on August 26, 2008.  Not only before the Wall Street crash, but the music business crash.  Now, with music available on YouTube, even fewer people are buying the album, they’re stealing it or just buying the track.

But, the flat sales from week to week demonstrate ongoing demand.  And that’s key in this business.  Ever since MTV we live in a world of rocket blasts.  Straight into the sky and then back to earth and forgotten.  Businessmen know this and whore you out now.  But best to go for the long haul.

189. Straight No Chaser "With A Twist"

Sales this week: 2,764
Percentage change: -15
Weeks on: 5
Cume: 29,741

Despite the anemic sales, I’m still a big believer in a cappella.  It’s the new karaoke.  Remember how karaoke was big in Japan and everybody said it would never work here?

We need a TV show, and not the lame competition series with Ben Folds and Nicole Scherzinger as judges.  It’s got to have more edge. It’s got to be more like the Flava Flav and Bret Michaels VH1 shows.  College is about debauchery, it’s only clean on the surface.  And there are so many backstories…  Remember "GE College Bowl"?  Do you watch the "Jeopardy" college tournament?  There’s interest.

But really, this is a live gig.

This is what Live Nation should be building.  A show they own.  That’s not talent dependent.  In other words, lacking stars.  So they can keep the ticket prices low and everybody can have a good time.

178. Alice In Chains "Black Gives Way To Blue"

Sales this week: 2,957
Percentage change: -17
Weeks on: 33
Cume: 430,973

A success in anybody’s book.  Jerry Cantrell was always the genius, but Layne Staley was the voice.  Now they’ve got a new voice. Which sounds just like the old voice, but isn’t that how Journey pulls ’em in on the road?

177. Flyleaf "Memento Mori"

Sales this week: 2,995
Percentage change: -1
Weeks on: 27
Cume: 242,014

You want sales to occur slowly.  That shows there’s still interest.  So, 242,000 sales of a developing artist over half a year is better than the same amount in much less time by someone who had a hit.  If you’re not part of the discussion, you’re irrelevant.

But, I guess we’ve really got to credit James Diener.

Not because he hooked up with Wall Street money and invented a new paradigm, that’s hogwash.  But because he signs very few acts and sticks with them.  That’s the new paradigm.  In an era where labels jump from hit to hit and don’t really give a shit about the underlying act.

176. Corinne Bailey Rae "The Sea"

Sales this week: 3,002
Percentage change: -30
Weeks on: 16
Cume: 185,130

She whores out the death of her husband to sell so few records?
Yes, it’s tragic her husband died, I feel sorry for her.  But I would have felt better about her if she’d refuse to discuss it in interviews, said it was private.  We’ll do anything to sell a record, and that isn’t good.  Then again, this hasn’t really sold.  Then again, she’s a minor talent at best.

159. Nikki Yanofsky "Nikki"

Sales this week: 3,434
Percentage change: -42
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 9,345

She might have played the Olympics, but that don’t mean shit south of the border.  Furthermore, this proves that press doesn’t sell new acts to adults, the initial target audience for Ms. Yanofsky.  TV and public radio sell to adults.  Start there.

Nikki’s not finished, but most people in America still have no idea who she is.

155. Brooks & Dunn "#1s…And Then Some"

Sales this week: 3,499
Percentage change: -28
Weeks on: 36
Cume: 321,484

They’re just not that good.  The songs are serviceable, but cliched.  Their disappearance from the scene is…no big loss.  And if neither has solo success, they’ll be reunionizing soon.

But there’s a TV special, all this ink.

Make me puke.

Just break up and go away.

153.  Three Days Grace "Life Starts Now"

Sales this week: 3,555
Percentage change: -14
Weeks on: 34
Cume: 371,459

They’ve got the number one Active Rock track, and thus have sold a modicum of albums, but they’re consigned to the ghetto, their odds of selling tonnage are low, because there’s nowhere to cross this record over to.

138 Hole "Nobody’s Daughter"

Sales this week: 3,823
Percentage change: -44
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 32,560

The only people who care are in the media.  The public, which actually buys the records, upon whom the whole edifice depends, knows that Mrs. Cobain is batshit crazy and has little musical talent.

So she’s famous.  So is that guy roller skating and playing his guitar down on Venice Beach, and nobody wants his records.

122. Gary Allan "Get Off The Pain"

Sales this week: 4,231
Percentage change: -24
Weeks on: 10
Cume: 152,368

Got great reviews, but airplay is the key to success in the country field, and Gary Allan just does not have enough.

104. Owl City "Ocean Eyes"

Sales this week: 5,197
Percentage change: -15
Weeks on: 44
Cume: 905,066

The power of a hit single.

And isn’t it funny, a hit rap track sells singles, a hit alternative single sells albums.

96. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings "I Learned The Hard Way"

Sales this week: 5,459
Percentage change: -27
Weeks on: 6
Cume: 73,048

Could be the best reviewed album on this chart.

Like movies, is music now review-proof?

I’m not saying there’s no critical consensus which affects sales, I’m just saying that the top down consensus, what the critics say, is less relevant than ever before.

81. Broken Bells

Sales this week: 6,235
Percentage change: 0
Weeks on: 10
Cume: 163,635

I like this record.  "The High Road" is catchy, you want to play it again.  But the rest of the record is uneven.  Still, there are good tracks. Try "Your Head Is On Fire".  And "Float".

And I was never into the Shins.

But I follow Danger Mouse.  He’s got cred.

And isn’t it funny that he made it by doing something illegal.  The Grey Album wasn’t as good as the story.  But Mr. Mouse used it to build a whole career.

He did it his way.  Alone.  And got a toehold.

Kind of like Shawn Fanning.  All innovation in the music sphere is now done outside the system, breaking the rules.  Whereas those in control of the rules want to sell us the same old crap.  Think about that…

71. Hold Steady "Heaven Is Whenever"

Sales this week: 6,595
Percentage change: -71
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 29, 734

A press story.

And if you believed the press, they’d be multiplatinum and touring arenas.

Alas, you don’t.  So another mediocre band that looks like those who write about it slug it out before giving up and getting day jobs.

46. Jackson Browne & David Lindley "Love Is Strange"

Sales this week: 10,034
Debut

Mmm…  Do I have a more treasured artist?

They were blowing out this double album for $11.99 at Amazon.  Now that that sale is done, is it completely over?

This is a set-up for a tour.  But the record is…superfluous except for fans.  This is Jackson’s third live greatest hits release out of four albums, and the studio project, "Time The Conqueror", was substandard.

Methinks Jackson should cut some new stuff with Mr. Lindley.

Then again, even I didn’t know this record was coming out.  If he cuts new material, who would know?

Maybe if he writes a song for Carrie Underwood!

31. Carrie Underwood "Play On"

Sales this week: 13,504
Percentage change: -30
Weeks on: 28
Cume: 1,532,234

This is not about Ms. Underwood.  She’s just the Barbie atop the cake.

Underneath it all is a bunch of professionals constructing the most sellable product they can.  Meaning no limits are tested, you don’t end up with a Tesla, but a Lexus.  The big boat, the 460.  Then again, they just recalled it.  Then again, maybe they’ll end up recalling Ms. Underwood, there must be some part inside about to fail, I mean she’s not really human, right?  I mean she gave up eating…  Who can survive without food, think about it!

This ain’t a Mercedes-Benz, made for a well-heeled crowd.  This ain’t a BMW, sporty, taking a chance.  This is the best of the middle of the road.

Listen to "Undo It".  It works.

3. The National "High Violet"

Sales this week: 50,671
Debut

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the act with the number three album is unknown to almost everybody in the country?

One in which music has been Balkanized, where we’ve got endless scenes and almost no mainstream.

I’d love to tell you I love this album, but I don’t.  I far prefer Broken Bells.

And while I’m at it, I’ll say that Grizzly Bear doesn’t float my boat either.

And my ultimate point is I’m now ignoring everything from Brooklyn.  It’s not the new Seattle, certainly not the new San Francisco.  The magazines and blogs need something to write about, and when they trumpet substandard stuff it ends up baffling the audience, makes them play video games or watch TV or listen to the same damn classic tunes over and over again.

Better to have one genuine hit track like "Fireflies" than a plethora of insider backers.

But the bottom line is, we need someone to tell us what to listen to.  Someone we can trust.  Someone with a batting average of .667.

It’s not Pandora, that station’s batting average stinks.

It’s got to be driven by people, not algorithms, data has no taste and machines have no soul.

And one of the reasons GaGa has sold so much product is that so many agree she’s good.  Sure, some shoegazers like living on the outside, but most people want to belong, they want to be able to discuss music with their friends.  Today, we’re living in the Tower of Babel.