{"id":2607,"date":"2010-01-22T08:06:26","date_gmt":"2010-01-22T16:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2010-01-22T08:13:58","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T16:13:58","slug":"sales-week-ending-11710","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/22\/sales-week-ending-11710\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales-Week Ending-1\/17\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Vampire Weekend "Contra"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 123,597
Debut<\/p>\n

And next week?<\/p>\n

Now we all know the album’s coming out, all the fans anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 We even read about it in the "New Yorker"!\u00c2\u00a0 (Shitty article, by the way…)\u00c2\u00a0 So, the graduates of elite universities are elated.\u00c2\u00a0 They all bought this the first week out.\u00c2\u00a0 Next week?<\/p>\n

Not that I want to make this about Vampire Weekend itself.\u00c2\u00a0 The records can be pretty good, but live they can be pretty flat.<\/p>\n

But they’re just another hipster band that’s caught fire with the…Brooklyn hipsters.\u00c2\u00a0 Selling 123,597 copies in a week…\u00c2\u00a0 Unknowns’ tweets fly further in an hour.<\/p>\n

You’ve got to take this for what it is.\u00c2\u00a0 A pitiful number in a nation of 300 million.\u00c2\u00a0 As for further growth?\u00c2\u00a0 Without Top Forty, no.\u00c2\u00a0 And alternative radio means less and less…<\/p>\n

2. Susan Boyle "I Dreamed A Dream"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 76,601
Percentage change: -18
Weeks on: 8
Cume: 3,272,309<\/p>\n

This is a great sales story, but it’s got almost nothing to do with music.<\/p>\n

\n
Read Richard Rushfield’s story: "Secret Rituals of American Idol Exposed"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

3. Ke$ha "Animal"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 66,783
Percentage change: -56
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 218,782<\/p>\n

Top Forty radio needs shit like this.<\/p>\n

Don’t get your knickers in a twist.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s just part of the endless sideshow, she’ll be gone soon.<\/p>\n

4. Lady GaGa "Fame"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 63,688
Percentage change: -3
Weeks on: 64
Cume: 2,517,117<\/p>\n

Unlike Madonna, GaGa has musical talent.<\/p>\n

She’d do better to focus on this.<\/p>\n

Madonna’s talent was testing limits, making people uncomfortable.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you still really do this when high school students are sexting nude pictures to each other?<\/p>\n

Take the high road GaGa. And remember the Beatles released an album with NOTHING on the cover.\u00c2\u00a0 After ditching their matching outfits. Lead, don’t follow.<\/p>\n

5. Alicia Keys "Element Of Freedom"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 47,566
Percentage change: -23
Weeks on: 5
Cume: 888,521<\/p>\n

Very impressive number.\u00c2\u00a0 Helped by the Jay-Z track.<\/p>\n

But for all the accolades, Alicia is a pedestrian writer.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what we oldsters can’t understand.\u00c2\u00a0 How something so mediocre is sold to us as phenomenal.<\/p>\n

Want to make your bones Alicia?\u00c2\u00a0 Call up Quincy and tell him that "We Are The World" sucks and supply your own Haiti relief number.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, I dare any of the new acts to do this.\u00c2\u00a0 Deliver a hit song that’s ALSO about Haiti relief.<\/p>\n

8. Taylor Swift "Fearless"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 33,431
Percentage change: -12
Weeks on: 62
Cume: 5,400,648<\/p>\n

Shades of Peter Frampton?\u00c2\u00a0 Touring too long playing the songs from the same hit album?<\/p>\n

Yup, she’s doing stadiums.\u00c2\u00a0 She deserves it.\u00c2\u00a0 Her numbers chronicle teen angst better than anyone’s.\u00c2\u00a0 But now what?\u00c2\u00a0 The bonus tracks on the Xmas re-release were boring.<\/p>\n

Sure, Taylor’s done it twice, but now it’s time to beak the mold.\u00c2\u00a0 How about a steady stream of new material, one hit song at a time.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re twenty years old, shouldn’t you be doing it the new way instead of the old?<\/p>\n

9. Alvin & the Chipmunks "The Squeakquel"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 32,732
Percentage change: -25
Weeks on: 7
Cume: 350,761<\/p>\n

You know they started on an independent, Razor & Tie, like all the cool acts.<\/p>\n

Did they lose a bit of cred going to Warner Brothers?<\/p>\n

Once you go mainstream, it’s hard to be taken seriously.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially when you’re seen hottubbing it with Kim Kardashian and Perez Hilton.<\/p>\n

As for the rumor of a sex tape…there’s been no confirmation.<\/p>\n

But it’s time to get out of the blogs and back in the studio.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe the next album can be produced by Steve Albini?\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe Alvin can guest with Thom Yorke?<\/p>\n

21. John Mayer "Battle Studies"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 18,427
Percentage change: -12
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 737,517<\/p>\n

You might think he went too far in the "Rolling Stone" interview…\u00c2\u00a0 But when was the last time a "Rolling Stone" story got traction on the Web (other than a political story by Matt Taibbi)?<\/p>\n

His music might be bland, but Mayer’s got a cutting edge career.<\/p>\n

I will never hate him.\u00c2\u00a0 For one damn thing.\u00c2\u00a0 He admits that this album, the current one, still on the chart, is not his best.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s "Continuum".<\/p>\n

Why do I hate late night TV talk shows?\u00c2\u00a0 Because everybody’s shilling their new product when we know it’s shit.\u00c2\u00a0 If you admit it’s shit, wow, I’ve got no comeback.<\/p>\n

32. Norah Jones "Fall"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 13,212
Percentage change: -1
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 656,006<\/p>\n

What’s her game?\u00c2\u00a0 Is she pulling a Neil Young?\u00c2\u00a0 Who famously released "Time Fades Away", a noisy live album, right after his monster hit "Harvest"?<\/p>\n

That was almost forty years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Norah has to take a page from John Mayer’s book.\u00c2\u00a0 Give the people what they want in order to stay in the public eye, then do what you want on your own time, in between album cycles.\u00c2\u00a0 How long do you think we’re going to continue to pay attention?<\/p>\n

35. Nickelback "Dark Horse"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 11,857
Percentage change: -7
Weeks on: 61
Cume: 2,558,288<\/p>\n

Just imagine if Mutt Lange worked with a good band!\u00c2\u00a0 Or a band so faceless that he could mold their sound.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, maybe Mutt should make the record himself and then hire Milli or Vanilli, which ever one is still alive, to front it, you know Mutt doesn’t need a band to work his magic.<\/p>\n

I heard Def Leppard’s "Animal" on the radio today.\u00c2\u00a0 Pure magic.<\/p>\n

You want to sell albums? Release shit as good as "Hysteria", stuff you can play over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

56. Ringo Starr "Y Not"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 7,965
Debut<\/p>\n

Bad strategy.\u00c2\u00a0 He needs one single, written by Paul McCartney, just for him.\u00c2\u00a0 That’d have much more impact.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, we’d all give a single a chance!<\/p>\n

66. 50 Cent "Before I Self-Destruct"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 7,329
Percentage change: -17
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 365,266<\/p>\n

So what now?\u00c2\u00a0 He self-destructs?<\/p>\n

I don’t know.<\/p>\n

But I do know one thing.\u00c2\u00a0 Fitty should write off this stiff and pull a Jay-Z, immediately.\u00c2\u00a0 A duet with GaGa.\u00c2\u00a0 Jimmy can make it happen.<\/p>\n

75. Foo Fighters "Greatest Hits"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 6,640
Percentage change: -7
Weeks on: 11
Cume: 213,911<\/p>\n

The dirty little secret?\u00c2\u00a0 Physical retail won’t stock the complete catalog, so labels release unnecessary compilations like this, because they know they’ll be stocked and they can book some revenue.<\/p>\n

Just buy the ones you want on iTunes.<\/p>\n

Or steal ’em.<\/p>\n


80. Mariah Carey "Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 6,143
Percentage change: -11
Weeks on: 16
Cume: 409,603<\/p>\n

Here we have the modern paradigm in action.\u00c2\u00a0 The media thinks Mariah’s a star, but she’s toast.<\/p>\n

Sure, she was drunk at that awards show, but really, everybody’s moved on.<\/p>\n

But the media is stuck in the nineties.\u00c2\u00a0 If no one rises above the fray, if there are no big stars, just Net niches…let’s just continue to build up the old stars!\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n

84. Colbie Caillat "Breakthrough"<\/span>

Sales this week: 5,972
Percentage change: -11
Weeks on: 21
Cume: 391,636<\/p>\n

There’s no stinkin’ breakthrough, just mindless fluff.<\/p>\n

Didn’t that girl from the "Wonder Years" go on to be a math whiz?\u00c2\u00a0 Didn’t Winnie Cooper graduate from UCLA?<\/p>\n

Why can’t Colbie give up now and do something worthwhile in her life.\u00c2\u00a0 Because she’s just not talented enough musically.<\/p>\n

97. Jimmy Buffett "Buffett Hotel"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 5,224
Percentage change: -12
Weeks on: 6
Cume: 166,729<\/p>\n

He couldn’t sell out concerts anymore and now he can’t even sell his usual 300,000 albums?\u00c2\u00a0 What, did every Parrot Head finally wake up and realize they’ve seen the same show with the same classic material too many times?<\/p>\n

Jimmy!\u00c2\u00a0 How about one new "Come Monday"!\u00c2\u00a0 Or another "Pirate Looks At Forty"!\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got enough money, how about one new classic. Or don’t you have it in you…<\/p>\n

117. Avett Brothers\u00c2\u00a0 "I And Love And You"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 4,299
Percentage change: -11
Weeks on: 16
Cume: 139,773<\/p>\n

Give Vampire Weekend credit, at least they’re not the Avett Brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 Critical darlings of the intelligentsia who can’t sell a record despite monster hype.<\/p>\n

If I’ve got to listen to your record a zillion times to get it, you’d better be rewriting music history, and the Avett Brothers are not.<\/p>\n

And you wonder why people have tuned out music.\u00c2\u00a0 When shit like this is hyped as being great, who can you trust?<\/p>\n

139. Leona Lewis "Echo"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 3,567
Percentage change: -13
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 165,179<\/p>\n

What, Simon Cowell’s all over TV telling every act they suck and he can’t come up with hit material for his "X Factor" winner?<\/p>\n

She plays the Olympics.<\/p>\n

Then she’s forgotten.<\/p>\n

And there, in a nutshell, you have the modern era.<\/p>\n

185. Dashboard Confessional "Alter The Ending"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 2,362
Percentage change: -11
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 76,581<\/p>\n

Remember when emo was the rage, when "Screaming Infidelities" ruled MTV?<\/p>\n

Well, that audience grew up, got jobs and got married.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe Chris Carrabba needs to too.<\/p>\n

Not on chart:
Heidi Montag "Superficial"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 658
Debut<\/p>\n

Heidi engineered a media blitz even Tommy Mottola and Clive Davis would be envious of.\u00c2\u00a0 But the public looked at the before and after pictures and did not buy the album.<\/p>\n

In other words, publicity isn’t everything, music is.\u00c2\u00a0 And no one wants to hear Heidi’s music, why would they?<\/p>\n

The public knows what’s real.\u00c2\u00a0 And they know the Top Forty dreck isn’t real, don’t worry.<\/p>\n

And all this boils down to a sick music business.\u00c2\u00a0 Because if you don’t have the hearts and minds of the public, you’re screwed.<\/p>\n

As for all you weenies bitching that your music hasn’t been properly recognized…let me say it one more time, since your parents and friends won’t…you suck.\u00c2\u00a0 Just because you can catch a ball doesn’t mean you can play in the major leagues, just because you made a record, that doesn’t mean we should care.\u00c2\u00a0 We know it when we hear it, and we don’t.<\/p>\n

You can market it, but that doesn’t mean we have to buy it.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that what Heidi Montag proved here?<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Vampire Weekend "Contra" Sales this week: 123,597Debut And next week? Now we all know the album’s coming out, all the fans anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 We even read about it in the "New Yorker"!\u00c2\u00a0 (Shitty article, by the way…)\u00c2\u00a0 So, the graduates of elite universities are elated.\u00c2\u00a0 They all bought this the first week out.\u00c2\u00a0 Next week? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-G3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}