Sales this week: 35,751
Percentage change: -17
Weeks on: 17
Cume: 1,904,262
Stunningly, the album, “Hard Candy”, didn’t make the Top 50 digital album sales chart this week.
Overall album sales are 589,961, with the package residing at number 63.
Sure, you might say she was always a singles artist. But she used to move millions of albums. Now, people only want her single.
102. Kenny Chesney “Better As A Memory”
Sales this week: 12,244
Percentage change: -18
Weeks on: 12
Cume: 186,035
This is utterly astounding. This was a NUMBER ONE RECORD, and it only sold 186,035 copies?
Obviously, the country music business is on the verge of turmoil. Because once its audience gets computers and iPods the Nashville cats are gonna lose control. They’re still living in the nineties, thinking it’s all about radio dictation. But when one gets an iPod, one’s tastes/desires broaden and one is no longer limited to what’s being forced down one’s throat.
ALBUM CHART
13. Blind Pilot “3 Rounds & A Sound”
Sales this week: 4,444
There is no physical album.
It’s only $7.99 on iTunes and was released on the indie Expunged Records.
I’d say this is the future.
Word spreads online, people buy it online. No sales department, no returns, no accounts issues. You may not know about this act, but they and their label don’t care. They’ve got fans who believe they’re credible (no singles on the chart) and they’re on their way to making money, since their overhead is so low.
Either you sell the act, making people believe they stand for something and will be here tomorrow, or you sell the single. There’s more money in the album, but the public, especially the young, net-savvy public, has been burned so many times, it’s wary of albums. Or, it just doesn’t believe in albums, viewing music as evanescent grease. Make them believers if you want to establish a retirement account.
