Printable version of thread

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:32 PM

Sound Of The Underground


Peak Position: #2
Certification: Platinum
First Week Sales: 37,077 (Original - Entry at #2)
First Week Sales: 26,000 (Re-Release - Entry at #42)
Total Sales: 368,000 (Combined - Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 76th (Albums in 2003)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 3) | 1wk (Top 5) | 1wk (Top 10) | 3wks (Top 20) | 7wks (Top 40) | 20wks (Top 75) | 43wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #2]
[1st Entry: 01/06/03] 02-12-29-30-60-83-89-108-76-61-56-49-35-17-30-49-60-123-Out
[2nd Entry: 07/12/03] 42-47-54-53-49-92-107-127-Out
[3rd Entry: 29/02/04] 172-133-180-Out
[4th Entry: 08/08/04] 142-87-150-Out
[5th Entry: 17/10/04] 173-177-Out
[6th Entry: 09/01/05] 192-172-184-Out
[7th Entry: 06/02/05] 151-190-198-Out
[8th Entry: 31/12/06] 67-70-138-Out

UK Top 50 Budget Chart Run [Peak Position: #23]
[1st Entry: 29/10/06] 47-Out
[2nd Entry: 03/12/06] 28-43-Out
[3rd Entry: 18/03/07] 23-34-28-29-38-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Will The Neighbours Say?


Peak Position: #6
Certification: 2xPlatinum
First Week Sales: 85,717 (Entry at #6)
Total Sales: 599,000 (Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 44th (Albums in 2004) | 136th (Albums in 2005)
Chart Weeks: 2wks (Top 10) | 6wks (Top 20) | 8wks (Top 40) | 17wks (Top 75) | 40wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #6]
[1st Entry: 05/12/04] 06-09-13-12-15-18-27-38-41-54-47-46-44-50-55-58-77-123-110-93-103-96-98-134-143-177-Out
[2nd Entry: 21/08/05] 166-139-147-105-103-137-180-180-Out
[3rd Entry: 25/12/05] 157-75-134-91-96-110-Out

UK Top 50 Budget Chart Run [Peak Position: #13]
[1st Entry: 01/04/07] 15-13-15-32-Out
[2nd Entry: 28/10/07] 41-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chemistry


Peak Position: #11
Certification: Platinum
First Week Sales: 81,962 (Entry at #11)
Total Sales: 390,000 (Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 74th (Albums in 2005)
Chart Weeks: 3wks (Top 20) | 5wks (Top 40) | 10wks (Top 75) | 33wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #11]
[1st Entry: 11/12/05] 11-20-17-29-39-56-55-77-98-127-145-123-133-66-61-71-97-137-128-101-139-162-186-Out
[2nd Entry: 16/07/06] 194-159-152-108-102-127-Out
[3rd Entry: 24/09/06] 81-97-90-121-Out

UK Top 50 Budget Chart Run [Peak Position: #36]
[Entry: 30/09/07] 36-43-39-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits


Peak Position: #1
Certification: 4xPlatinum
First Week Sales: 84,354 (Entry at #1)
Total Sales: 1,200,000 (Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 16th (Albums in 2006) | 123rd (Albums in 2007) | 133rd (Albums in 2008) | 72nd (Albums in 2009) | 123rd (Albums in 2000s Decade)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (#1) | 2wks (Top 3) | 3wks (Top 5) | 9 wks (Top 10) | 14wks (Top 20) | 20wks (Top 40) | 38wks (Top 75) | 157wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #1]
[1st Entry: 05/11/06] 01-03-04-07-07-07-08-11-11-13-17-22-28-43-62-74-105-106-108-104-110-144-159-190-174-160-190-184-162-96-88-100-...
...-132-152-175-161-176-161-140-118-100-99-126-149-137-185-Out
[2nd Entry: 21/10/07] 184-174-158-144-147-87-95-100-101-124-135-121-137-163-190-Out
[3rd Entry: 04/05/08] 118-106-110-128-174-193-Out
[4th Entry: 22/06/08] 168-167-170-126-128-142-186-Out
[5th Entry: 17/08/08] 180-121-124-152-144-103-121-135-114-109-44-48-53-60-52-73-83-79-61-45-06-15-10-Out
[6th Entry: 08/02/09] 187-Out
[7th Entry: 22/02/09] 175-Out
[8th Entry: 08/03/09] 40-37-53-31-27-45-54-62-61-73-90-104-121-156-163-Out
[9th Entry: 12/07/09] 182-173-198-174-168-126-99-122-92-102-119-110-193-174-133-107-108-98-89-93-103-117-121-125-120-Out
[10th Entry: 14/03/10] 168-160-154-128-157-173-177-183-181-169-Out
[11th Entry: 27/06/10] 198-199-Out
[12th Entry: 21/08/10] 161-62-78-107-148-181-Out

UK Top 50 Budget Chart Run [Peak Position: #1]
[1st Entry: 25/01/09] 01-01-01-01-01-01-Out
[2nd Entry: 03/01/10] 03-02-02-04-07-13-12-05-06-13-Out
[3rd Entry: 10/10/10] 27-36-25-12-16-14-22-28-37-39-45-50-22-35-36-42-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tangled Up


Peak Position: #4
Certification: Platinum
First Week Sales: 49,065 (Entry at #4)
Total Sales: 505,000 (Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 62nd (Albums in 2007) | 71st (Albums in 2008)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 5) | 1wk (Top 10) | 8wks (Top 20) | 19wks (Top 40) | 32wks (Top 75) | 60wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #4]
[1st Entry: 25/11/07] 04-13-20-24-23-28-27-33-46-49-55-70-79-74-64-46-34-30-28-12-14-16-16-20-24-44-31-37-50-69-75-77-77-83-84-83-107-131-136-...
...-79-80-88-94-90-90-91-89-102-53-61-88-118-129-134-Out
[2nd Entry: 08/03/09] 171-174-194-182-177-192-Out

UK Top 50 Budget Chart Run [Peak Position: #2]
[Entry: 07/12/08] 17-16-07-02-03-03-03-04-04-05-09-08-10-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out of Control


Peak Position: #1
Certification: 2xPlatinum
First Week Sales: 85,670 (Entry at #1)
Total Sales: 796,000 (Official figure from March 2013)
Best Sellers List: 8th (Albums in 2008) | 78th (Albums in 2009)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (#1) | 2wks (Top 3) | 5wks (Top 5) | 9wks (Top 10) | 10wks (Top 20) | 18wks (Top 40) | 34wks (Top 75) | 58wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #1]
[1st Entry: 09/11/08] 01-03-05-09-09-08-05-05-10-14-24-25-30-37-42-37-40-46-66-55-57-48-52-52-52-33-36-47-48-47-87-...
...-115-129-101-108-118-108-105-97-84-61-59-49-60-82-95-95-105-113-113-110-136-134-135-130-156-Out
[2nd Entry: 29/08/10] 172-150-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ten


Peak Position: #9
Certification: Gold
First Week Sales: 38,758 (Entry at #9)
Total Sales: 167,000 (Estimate figure from October 2013)
Best Sellers List: 78th (Albums in 2012)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 10) | 1wk (Top 20) | 5wks (Top 40) | 12wks (Top 75) | 23wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #9]
[1st Entry: 02/12/12] 09-26-32-22-34-46-62-73-77-86-102-104-74-63-60-64-80-150-151-Out
[2nd Entry: 29/09/13] 154-146-148-174-Out

UK Top 40 Download Chart Run [Peak Position: #11]
[Entry: 02/12/12] 11-Out

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:32 PM

3 Words


Peak Position: #1
Certification: 3xPlatinum
First Week Sales: 125,271 (Entry at #1)
Total Sales: 1,000,000 (estimate from June 2013)
Best Sellers List: 11th (Albums in 2009) | 35th (Albums in 2010)
Chart Weeks: 2wks (#1) | 2wks (Top 3) | 2wks (Top 5) | 4wks (Top 10) | 16wks (Top 20) | 35wks (Top 40) | 55wks (Top 75) | 80wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart [Peak Position: #1]
[1st Entry: 01/11/09] 01-01-07-12-12-14-15-14-10-12-23-32-42-39-45-38-32-27-20-27-15-13-12-13-20-24-27-21-25-31-30-38-50-56-42-32-37-40-50-52-51-46-49-45-...
...-46-45-52-50-53-60-58-55-25-37-58-77-80-96-105-104-86-OUT
[2nd Entry: 06/03/11] 111-135-127-144-160-170-199-OUT
[3rd Entry: 22/05/11] 178-152-100-139-165-181-195-186-OUT
[4th Entry: 07/08/11] 188-80-139-176-OUT

UK Top 50 Budget Chart [Peak Position: #1]
[Entry: 02/01/11] 01-01-02-03-04-03-07-04-03-Out

UK Top 100 Download Chart [Peak Position: #25]
[Entry: 17/10/10] 90-88-25-40-76-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Messy Little Raindrops


Peak Position: #1
Certification: Platinum
First Week Sales: 105,431 (Entry at #1)
Total Sales: 485,000 (Estimate Figure)
Best Sellers List: 21st (Albums in 2010)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (#1) | 2wks (Top 3) | 2wks (Top 5) | 3wks (Top 10) | 8wks (Top 20) | 13wks (Top 40) | 16wks (Top 75) | 18wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart [Peak Position: #1]
[1st Entry: 07/11/10] 01-03-08-12-15-16-17-19-26-31-29-26-29-43-51-56-125-Out
[2nd Entry: 29/05/11] 198-Out

UK Top 100 Download Chart [Peak Position: #1]
[Entry: 07/11/10] 01-03-10-23-47-53-48-31-32-44-41-59-87-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Million Lights


Peak Position: #2
Certification: Gold
First Week Sales: 34,934 (Entry at #2)
Total Sales: 92,000 (Estimate Figure: 14/09/12)
Best Sellers List: 70th (Albums in 2012)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 3) | 1wk (Top 5) | 2wks (Top 10) | 3wks (Top 20) | 8wks (Top 40) | 16wks (Top 75) | 22wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart [Peak Position: #2]
[1st Entry: 24/06/12] 02-06-16-34-37-48-38-37-45-49-70-68-39-63-55-59-76-107-158-Out
[2nd Entry: 25/11/12] 176-186-Out
[3rd Entry: 30/12/12] 191-Out

UK Top 40 Download Chart [Peak Position: #1]
[Entry: 24/06/12] 01-15-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only Human


TBA

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:32 PM

Centre Stage


Peak Position: #18
First Week Sales: 6,620 (Entry at #18)
Total Sales: 9,306 (Official Figure)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 20) | 1wk (Top 40) | 1wk (Top 75) | 3wks (Top 100)

UK Top 200 Chart [Peak Position: #18]
[Entry: 10/02/13] 18-50-81-190-Out

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:32 PM

Insatiable


Peak Position: #47
First Week Sales: 5,450 (Entry at #47)
Total Sales: 7,259 (Official Figure: 21/11/10)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 75) | 2wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #47]
[Entry: 14/11/10] 47-131-OUT

UK Indie Top 50 Chart Run [Peak Position: #4]
[Entry: 14/11/10] 04-09-22-50-OUT

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:32 PM

Cinderella's Eyes


Peak Position: #17
First Week Sales: 8,473 (Entry at #17)
Total Sales: 12,689 (Official Figure: 06/11/11)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 20) | 1wk (Top 40) | 2wks (Top 75) | 3wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #17]
[Entry: 02/10/11] 17-72-158-Out

UK Top 40 Download Chart Run [Peak Position: #13]
[Entry: 02/10/11] 13-Out

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:33 PM

COMING SOON (hopefully!)

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 22nd April 2014, 09:33 PM

Mixed Up (Woolworths exclusive)


Peak Position: #56
First Week Sales: 6,147 (Entry at #56)
Total Sales: 19,418 (Official figure from 21/06/09)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 75) | 2wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #56]
[Entry: 25/11/07] 56-169-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Girls A Live (Woolworths exclusive)


Peak Position: #29
First Week Sales: 9,637 (Entry at #29)
Total Sales: 14,824 (Official figure from 21/06/09)
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 40) | 1wk (Top 75) | 2wks (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #29]
[Entry: 09/11/08] 29-167-Out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Collection


Peak Position: #165
Chart Weeks: 1wk (Top 200)

UK Top 200 Chart Run [Peak Position: #165]
[Entry: 02/06/13] 165-Out

Posted by: Hayzayy 23rd April 2014, 09:28 AM

Is it a typo? I don't remember it being the best selling album of 2009, but I guess it was somewhere 11-19 and there's a number missing

Great recap by the way !

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 23rd April 2014, 10:08 AM

Yes it is a typo haha, my own fault, must've copy and pasted Jay's info incorrectly! I'll update it later when I add the rest of the information.

Posted by: NoahspiKEBAB 23rd April 2014, 10:39 AM

'Chemistry' sold 82k in its first week (albeit in December) and couldn't even manage to go top 10 ? Up until last week, those sales would have been the highest of any album released so far this year! How times have changed .

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 23rd April 2014, 11:03 AM

I think it was the week it was at #17, so in its third week (although Jay could correct me on this), it sold around 99k! Helps that it was at Christmas time but that's still ridiculous to even think of nowadays, we're lucky to get a #1 to sell even that much.

Posted by: NoahspiKEBAB 23rd April 2014, 11:30 AM

Oh my God, the top 16 surpassing 100k?! .

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 23rd April 2014, 11:31 AM

Yup What a weird thought, Buzzjack would have a field day if that happened nowadays.

Posted by: -Jay- 23rd April 2014, 12:57 PM

I can't even remember where I read about the 99k figure anymore! I've been looking for a source. I have found an old estimate on Haven which says it did 100k, but I'm sure I read somewhere that it did "a little less than 100k". Maybe it was worked out via the EOY 2005 chart.

Anyway, whether it was 99k or 100k... that's insane!

Posted by: NoahspiKEBAB 23rd April 2014, 01:51 PM

^ Well with sales like that, they deserved all that time off to just sit around in their pants eating cake .

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 23rd April 2014, 05:19 PM

This thread is now FINISHED. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know!

Posted by: AlexRange 23rd April 2014, 07:05 PM

Well done, Joseph.
It's like the second life for Girls Aloud forum.
Poor Sarah, she is so sad on the left part of picture.

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 23rd April 2014, 07:10 PM

No problem Alex, I'm very glad you're liking the thread!

Posted by: -Jay- 23rd April 2014, 07:13 PM

Guys, remember to also check out http://girlsalouddiscography.weebly.com/ - run by Joseph & myself! It also includes format/track list information, worldwide chart runs and various other chart related stats.

Note that the solo sections are still a work in progress, but the group sections are complete.

Posted by: AlexRange 23rd April 2014, 07:22 PM

That's awesome. As charts geek I love it.
Try to revive some facts about chartruns, which I posted on Vanity Edge site (something similar which I posted here for Sugababes, Katy Perry and Eurovision) in past, but they are not available now.

Posted by: liamk97 23rd April 2014, 07:23 PM

3 Words passed the 1m mark last June (w/c 10 June).

Posted by: JosephTheVamps 23rd April 2014, 07:32 PM

I thought it had! Thanks for clarifying, will edit it

Posted by: JoeP 16th July 2014, 08:52 AM

Does anybody know the first week sales figure for 'Ten?

Posted by: Noahspike 16th July 2014, 08:58 AM

38,758. Can be found in http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=148047 in the Sales Vault.

Posted by: JoeP 16th July 2014, 03:08 PM

Thanks! It should have sold more, given the time of year. It's one of the best collections of hits ever made, so much better than the previous Greatest Hits. Something just wasn't connecting with Girls Aloud and the public in 2013 though

Posted by: OutstandingMixer 16th July 2014, 03:44 PM

It was a second greatest hits though. It actually sold fairly well when you consider the first one sold well over a million copies.

Posted by: JosephStyles 16th July 2014, 03:48 PM

Ten could've done a LOT worse, considering it only had one (new) hit single on it (and even then, Something New didn't do *amazingly* ), and for the reason stated above too. I'm quite pleased with how it did

Posted by: Atonement 20th December 2014, 09:47 AM

Why is there a picture of some shy boy wearing clear blue lenses instead of the 'Out of Control' cover?

Posted by: JosephCarey 20th December 2014, 10:17 AM

It's showing fine for me on my phone? (not tried the computer yet)

Posted by: Atonement 20th December 2014, 12:23 PM

That's odd

tbh I thought it was your crush du jour and it was deliberate

Posted by: krissykins 30th March 2018, 05:08 PM

Does anyone have any update on Ten’s sales?

Posted by: liamk97 12th November 2018, 12:21 PM

Music Week has revealed Cheryl's Only Human has sold 67,543 to date.

Posted by: Theo. 12th November 2018, 12:29 PM

Oh my! 😕 You would've thought it would be closer to 100,000 given it has two #1 singles on it and it was released in Q4 in a much higher sales climate than today. There's really no excusing its 7-28-45-51-68-78-76-46-87 chart run though.

A shame, as it's a lot better than 'Messy Little Raindrops' and that's sold well over Platinum.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 12th November 2018, 02:35 PM

It’s a shame Only Human didn’t really take off as an album. I really like it.

Well tbh I can listen to all of her albums in full except Messy Little Raindrops.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 12th November 2018, 02:37 PM

Also how did Messy Little Raindrops go from 56 to then only spending a further two weeks in the top 200?!
Crazy.

A Million Lights also deserved better but I guess with the GA ten album being released the same year it didn’t get a Q4 push and she wasn’t on X Factor either.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 20th November 2018, 01:53 AM

Came back here looking at Girls Alouds sales.

Their openings were fantastic, their peaks deserved better especially Chemistry.

Wow at their debut album selling 26,000 at a week where it wasn’t even top 40 that could’ve easily went to #1 on those sales in many chart weeks this year.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 2nd July 2019, 11:34 PM

Some information from 15th March 2019 (forgot to post it, oops!)

800,482 - Out of Control
509,140 - Tangled Up
226,528 - Ten

It was on 167,290 on 20th October 2013, so 59,238 sales sold between then and March 2019. Going to assume it sold rather slowly in 2014/15, and that streaming has gradually been becoming stronger in the past couple of years. I suppose it's anyone's guess how quickly it'll be able to reach 300k and become Platinum!

Posted by: Medellíam 2nd July 2019, 11:47 PM

4k in 6 years for Tangled Up and Out of Control, so like 10-15 copies a week. My first reaction is "ouch" but tbh what reason have they had to sell in the 6 years that have passed? Especially when you'd probably get them for like 50p in any charity shop.

Nice to see Ten selling steadily though.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 9th August 2019, 12:41 AM

Following on from the sales provided by AJ that were posted by Joseph in the Singles topic ( http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=165552&view=findpost&p=6297589 ):

Girls Aloud Albums in sales order, I assume it's as of 2nd August 2019! -

01. 1,233,745 - The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits
02. 800,890 - Out of Control
03. 605,120 - What Will the Neighbours Say?
04. 509,634 - Tangled Up
05. 394,868 - Chemistry
06. 372,193 - Sound of the Underground
07. 236,052 - Ten
08. 19,579 - Mixed Up
09. 14,850 - Girls A Live
10. 1,290 - The Collection

2,682,705 sales for the 5 studio albums
1,469,797 sales for the 2 greatest hits
4,152,502 sales for the 5 studio albums & 2 greatest hits
4,188,221 sales when you factor in the miscellaneous albums


We had an update for Tangled Up, Out of Control and Ten 20 weeks ago, and this is how many sales those albums have increased by since then:

+9,524 - Ten (476.2 sales per week)
+494 - Tangled Up (24.7 sales per week)
+408 - Out of Control (20.4 sales per week)

Well, we're certainly unlikely to ever see Tangled Up certify 2xPlat or Out of Control certify 3xPlat! Pretty good going for Ten though. At this rate, we could see Ten achieve Platinum by March 2022.


The last sales figures given for Sound of the Underground, What Will the Neighbours Say?, Chemistry and The Sound of Girls Aloud was in May 2013. They were rounded figures though, no indication of whether they were rounded up or down. So the increase in sales is very approximate.

1.2m - The Sound of Girls Aloud (I assume if they'd been more precise in 2013, then the figure that year would have been a very similar figure to what AJ has provided us with this year, given that this album has been out of print for years)
599,000 - What Will the Neighbours Say? (~6.1k increase in over 6 years)
390,000 - Chemistry (~4.9k increase in over 6 years)
368,000 - Sound of the Underground (~4.2k increase in over 6 years)

If we look at the other figures too:

796,000 - Out of Control (~4.9k increase in over 6 years)
505,000 - Tangled Up (~4.6k increase in over 6 years)


~~~~

As for the Solo Albums:

1,011,408 - 3 Words (Cheryl)
491,327 - Messy Little Raindrops (Cheryl)
112,145 - A Million Lights (Cheryl)
68,208 - Only Human (Cheryl)
21,509 - Cinderella's Eyes (Nicola)
14,790 - Centre Stage (Kimberley)
14,720 - Insatiable (Nadine)

Cheryl has sold 1,683,088 albums!

The campaign to make Insatiable a higher selling album than Centre Stage begins now. x 70 copies difference!!

Posted by: rowork 20th August 2019, 03:18 PM

Thank you for your commentary as always, Jay! I'm pleasantly surprised by Ten's sales.

Posted by: Spiceboy 9th October 2019, 10:59 AM

I'm quite surprised Cheryl is on 1,683,000 thought she would be quite significantly higher! Especially when you think Melanie C is on over 1 million albums and she has only had one big era. Cheryl has had at least 3 big eras so expected quite alot more considering her first album was a million seller on it's own.

Also Kimberly did really bad when you consider how promo she had and she only just managed to outsell Nadine who only sold in Tesco stores (what a stupid idea!)

Posted by: Jordan Lee 11th October 2019, 01:59 AM

I thought both Messy Little Raindrops and A Million Lights had sold more than that.

3 Words on over 1m though is amazing to see. That genuinely is a really solid album

112K is so low for A Million Lights especially as it had Call My Name as a lead but the campaign was kinda short probably because of Ten. It might’ve pushed for 200K had we got a proper third single in Q4 2012.

Posted by: Liam.k. 9th April 2020, 03:17 PM

I know this is an old post but I was searching through the archives and came across an article which confirmed Girls Aloud just missed out on 100k and somehow remembered a discussion about it here!

From Music Week, December 2012:

Posted by: Jay ☆ 9th April 2020, 04:21 PM

Thanks for finding that Liam! A slight shame that Girls Aloud couldn't join the 100k+ club and make 2005 the record breaking year *.* Almost 100k for #17 is mad!

It seems bizarre now to imagine literally millions of CD albums selling in the space of one week (I guess by 2005 there were very few cassette or vinyl sales). And I guess the majority of that would have been in stores, I'm not sure to what extent online shopping had taken off by 2005.


I recently checked my very old Hotmail account and found some midweek data from 2005, which was interesting to look back on! These were the sales in the Thursday 22nd December 2005 midweeks. The formatting is a mess lol:

1
152,249
CURTAIN  CALL  -  THE  HITS  
EMINEM

2
120,029
INTENSIVE  CARE  
ROBBIE  WILLIAMS

3
114,705
BACK  TO  BEDLAM  
JAMES  BLUNT

4
110,827
FACE  TO  FACE  
WESTLIFE

5
97,274
NEVER  FORGET  -  THE  ULTIMATE  COLLECTION  
TAKE  THAT

6
96,397
ANCORA  
IL  DIVO

7
80,213
BREAKAWAY  
KELLY  CLARKSON

8
78,729
KATIE  MELUA
PIECE  BY  PIECE  

9
77,502
DEMON  DAYS  
GORILLAZ

10
73,151
CONFESSIONS  ON  A  DANCE  FLOOR  
MADONNA

11
64,880
COLDPLAY
X&Y  

12
63,572
PCD  
PUSSYCAT  DOLLS

13
62,115
KEEP  ON  
WILL  YOUNG

14
59,763
TALLER  IN  MORE  WAYS  
SUGABABES

15
52,293
EYE  TO  THE  TELESCOPE  
KT  TUNSTALL

16
51,717
EMPLOYMENT  
KAISER  CHIEFS

17
48,714
CHEMISTRY  
GIRLS  ALOUD

18
46,533
RETROSPECTACLE  
SUPERTRAMP

19
46,136
SANCTUARY  
SIMON  WEBBE

20
42,588
EURYTHMICS
ULTIMATE  COLLECTION

Posted by: Liam.k. 9th April 2020, 05:01 PM

Yeah, would have been nice if they could have made it. They did pass 100k in three other Christmas weeks though, in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Looking at those midweeks really puts into perspective how much the market has changed - the 42,588 that #20 sold midweek would have been enough for #5 for the full week last Christmas!

Posted by: Spiceboy 9th April 2020, 09:44 PM

It's so sad how much the albums chart has declined, I wonder why? Is it due to streaming or just a decline over time?

Posted by: Liam.k. 9th April 2020, 11:00 PM

I've compiled the best weekly album sales of each year (2000-present) to see the trends. I guess it would be more accurate to look at the yearly totals but I don't think that info is widely available so I've done the next best thing.

The first column is pure sales, second includes streams:

W/E 30 December 2000 - 10,298,132
W/E 29 December 2001 - 9,768,027 (-5.15%)
W/E 28 December 2002 - 9,232,167 (-5.49%)
W/E 27 December 2003 - 8,868,697 (-3.94%)
W/E 01 January 200500 - 8,884,280 (+0.18%)
W/E 31 December 2005 - 10,581,571 (+19.1%)
W/E 30 December 2006 - 10,176,752 (-3.83%)
W/E 29 December 2007 - 8,324,707 (-18.2%)
W/E 27 December 2008 - 7,295,980 (-12.36%)
W/E 26 December 2009 - 6,820,881 (-6.51%)
W/E 25 December 2010 - 5,724,064 (-16.08%)
W/E 31 December 2011 - 6,026,781 (+5.29%)
W/E 29 December 2012 - 5,527,603 (-8.28%)
W/E 28 December 2013 - 4,598,813 (-16.8%)
W/E 27 December 2014 - 4,204,633 (-8.57%)
W/E 31 December 2015 - 4,427,760* (+5.31%) 4,905,885 (+16.68%)
W/E 29 December 2016 - 3,393,159 (-23.37%)** 3,991,149 (-18.65%)
W/E 28 December 2017 - 3,019,122 (-11.02%) 3,900,520 (-2.27%)
W/E 27 December 2018 - 2,149,061 (-28.82%) 3,228,818 (-17.22%)
W/E 26 December 2019 - 1,503,310 (-30.05%) 2,798,545 (-13.33%)

*3,977,890 (-5.39%)
**(-14.7%)

2015 saw Adele's 25 have untypically huge sales so I've also shown the total without her sales too.

Album sales have generally been going down since the turn of the century although quite gradually during the Noughties (not sure what caused the spike in 2005). I guess the recession increased the decline and 2010 was a particularly bad winter. Then streaming started to become more prominent this decade although it was only in the last couple of years that it really started to kill off album sales. Streaming seems to be curving the decline slightly but not at a faster rate than pure sales are falling.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 11th April 2020, 05:51 PM

Interesting that 2005 had such a surge! Not many of the biggest sellers of that week in 2005 appealed to me. Madonna was far and away the best album in the Top 10, at #10! (Lol I say this like I've heard the albums by James Blunt, Robbie, Westlife, Il Divo... but we just know Madonna's was better than those without having to listen x)

Posted by: Liam.k. 11th April 2020, 06:46 PM

If I've worked it out right then I think 2005 had the maximum amount of Christmas week build up sales (18th to 24th December), don't know if that helped or not.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 24th April 2020, 07:59 PM

What’s good about GA is they managed some great album sales despite their chart runs on paper not looking that great. Almost makes up for their single sales not being what they should be.

Like their albums mainly their first 3 didn’t spend that long top 40 yet all went platinum.

What Will The Neighbours Says sales are really good! Imagine an album these days spending just 8 weeks top 40 sales would be nowhere near even 150K let alone 600K.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 25th April 2020, 09:57 AM

^ I miss album sales being really strong! Download sales weren't included in the album chart until April 2006, therefore Girls Aloud 100% relied on people buying CDs in stores (or online) during their first 3 album eras. What Will the Neighbours Say literally only had one CD format available, which seems funny when you think of all the multi-format releases these days! At the time though, cassettes were considered as being a redundant format and had only been phased out just a year or two earlier, while vinyl albums weren't very popular or widely released... so there wasn't really a way in which labels could encourage multi-buying, although in those days they really didn't need to when they could shift hundreds of thousands of CDs.

Out of interest I looked at what the overall sales would be for an album going 06-09-13-12-15-18-27-38 in the equivalent weeks in 2019/2020 [6th Dec 2019 to 24th Jan 2020] and it would have reached around 68,500 in 8 weeks. In 2004, What Will the Neighbours Say sold 85,717 in its first week.

Unfortunately I don't know any other weekly sales for the album, so I have no idea how much it sold in those 8 weeks. Apparently it had sold just short of 400,000 by the end of 2004 though, so I suppose it would have been over 400,000 by the time it left the Top 40.

Looking at the rest of the What Will the Neighbours Say chart run, you're probably right that it would have struggled to ever reach a total of 150,000 in today's sales climate.

I agree with you that their album sales makes up for their single sales being lower than what we're used to these days [even though they were decent back in those days]. I'm fairly certain that Girls Aloud are the only girl group with five platinum studio albums in the UK! Little Mix will eventually equal that.

Posted by: Jordan Lee 25th April 2020, 12:38 PM

So many good points made there Jay! I didn’t even think of just how different the charts were then compared to now when I wrote that. I miss the days especially in Q4 when album sales were just super strong and you get the chart battles as well

Their albums chart runs are kinda like how singles used to perform (well their first 3 albums). Tangled Up and Out of Control managed to have longer times spent on the charts.

It shocked me looking at their chart runs I was thinking for some eras they could’ve been like Britney (high debut, second week drop then months later they climb back top 20 or in some cases get a new peak) like with singles being pushed / promo etc.

They did very well to get 5x platinum albums though. What really fascinated me most was their debut album being their lowest seller for some reason I thought it was their biggest up until Out Of Control come along!

Posted by: Liam.k. 25th April 2020, 01:05 PM

Wow, that really puts it into perspective how much the market has dropped! Selling 100k is a hit album these days but would have been such a flop back then.

The only other bit of sale info I can give is that the w/e 1 January 2005, when the album placed at #12, Green Day's American Idiot was one place lower and sold 104,790, so we know Girls Aloud definitely sold over 100k.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 25th April 2020, 03:20 PM

Thankfully the re-release (out on 1st December 2003) really helped Sound of the Underground. As of 30th November 2003 the album had only sold 143,000 copies! The re-release helped the album re-enter the chart at #42... which doesn't seem great, but it still sold 26,000 copies at that position. By the end of 2003 Sound of the Underground had sold 245,000. By 21st June 2009 it had sold 366,514, and on 2nd August 2019 it was on 372,193 [so a rather modest 5,679 sales in 528 weeks ].


Incredible sales! So What Will the Neighbours Say, The Sound of Girls Aloud and Out of Control all had weeks where they sold over 100k, and Chemistry came incredibly close to having a 100k week as well!


~~~~~

This discussion made me remember that I have quite a few weekly sales figures for The Sound of Girls Aloud and Out of Control:

The Sound of Girls Aloud
01. 84,354 (#01) [05/11/06]
02. 60,926 (#03) [12/11/06]
03. 49,590 (#04) [19/11/06]
04. 54,639 (#07) [26/11/06]
05. 67,954 (#07) [03/12/06]
06. 84,062 (#07) [10/12/06]
07. 95,785 (#08) [17/12/06]
08. 129,888 (#11) [24/12/06]
= 627,198 in 8 weeks

[^ It was also #11 in its 9th week; George Michael was at #10 with 45,806 sales]


Out of Control
01. 85,670 (#01) [09/11/08]
02. 51,865 (#03) [16/11/08]
03. 45,894 (#05) [23/11/08]
04. 52,884 (#09) [30/11/08]
05. 55,110 (#09) [07/12/08]
06. 77,384 (#08) [14/12/08]
07. 125,047 (#05) [21/12/08]
08. 97,932 (#05) [28/12/08]
09. 22,259 (#10) [04/01/09]
10. 9,831 (#14) [11/01/09]
= 623,876 in 10 weeks


I looked back at The Sound of Girls Aloud's chart run and it was pretty impressive

UK Top 200 Chart Run
[1st Entry: 05/11/06] 01-03-04-07-07-07-08-11-11-13-17-22-28-43-62-74-105-106-108-104-110-144-159-190-174-160-190-184-162-96-88-100-132-152-175-161-176-161-140-118-100-99-126-149-137-185-Out
[2nd Entry: 21/10/07] 184-174-158-144-147-87-95-100-101-124-135-121-137-163-190-Out
[3rd Entry: 04/05/08] 118-106-110-128-174-193-Out
[4th Entry: 22/06/08] 168-167-170-126-128-142-186-Out
[5th Entry: 17/08/08] 180-121-124-152-144-103-121-135-114-109-44-48-53-60-52-73-83-79-61-45-06-15-10-Out
[6th Entry: 08/02/09] 187-Out
[7th Entry: 22/02/09] 175-Out
[8th Entry: 08/03/09] 40-37-53-31-27-45-54-62-61-73-90-104-121-156-163-Out
[9th Entry: 12/07/09] 182-173-198-174-168-126-99-122-92-102-119-110-193-174-133-107-108-98-89-93-103-117-121-125-120-Out
[10th Entry: 14/03/10] 168-160-154-128-157-173-177-183-181-169-Out
[11th Entry: 27/06/10] 198-199-Out
[12th Entry: 22/08/10] 161-62-78-107-148-181-Out


It soaring back into the Top 10 at #6 in January 2009 was such a nice surprise, but then a few weeks later it exited the chart from #10 because it transferred over to the Budget chart... which was a very moment.

The Sound of Girls Aloud
28,941 (#06) [04/01/2009]
9,488 (#15) [11/01/2009]
11,790 (#10) [18/01/2009]
= 50,219 in these 3 weeks

During its 6 weeks at #1 in the Budget Chart from 25th Jan to 1st March, it likely would have been within the Top 40 in all those weeks had it been eligible, and it sold in the region of 35.1k to 41.1k (this is based on it being 21st in the Year to Date Album chart on 1st March, between 20th - Bette Midler [on approx 91,350 sales] and 22nd - Roger Whittaker [on approx 85,400 sales]).

By the way, this is the budget chart run:

[1st Entry: 25/01/09] 01-01-01-01-01-01-Out
[2nd Entry: 03/01/10] 03-02-02-04-07-13-12-05-06-13-Out
[3rd Entry: 10/10/10] 27-36-25-12-16-14-22-28-37-39-45-50-22-35-36-42-Out[/size]

On 10th Jan 2010 when it was #2 in the budget chart, it would have been #64 in the album chart if it had been eligible to chart. So it was denied a few more Top 100 weeks.

Note: This portion of the album's Top 200 run...

[6th Entry: 08/02/09] 187-Out
[7th Entry: 22/02/09] 175-Out

... was seemingly due to download sales only, given that the album was in the budget chart in those 2 weeks.



Equally annoying was Tangled Up being in the Budget chart for 13 weeks beginning in December 2008:

[Entry: 07/12/08] 17-16-07-02-03-03-03-04-04-05-09-08-10-Out

On 4th Jan 2009 (when it was down a place at #3 in the Budget chart), Tangled Up was 33rd in the Year to Date Album chart - effectively meaning that it would have been at #33 in the album chart had it been eligible. It seems that it sold over 10,000 copies in that week. It would have likely been within the Top 60 in the following 2 weeks as well. A shame that it missed out on a few extra weeks in the Top 100.

Posted by: Andrew. 25th April 2020, 03:25 PM

looking at the chart stats 'Chemistry' does seem like a bit of a flop, it missed the top 10, fell down quickly and only had one big hit (Biology, and a well deserved big hit that was ) The Sound...must have been a relief for them!!

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 25th April 2020, 03:41 PM

Despite not a huge fan of it I was disappointed it missed the top 10 as I dudnt see that happening at the time.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 25th April 2020, 04:47 PM

Here's some Tangled Up weekly sales!

01. 49,065 (#04) [25/11/07] {49,068 - 3 copies sold pre-release date}
02. 38,323 (#13) [02/12/07] {87,391}
03. 38,191 (#20) [09/12/07] {125,579}
04. 40,807 (#24) [16/12/07] {166,386}
05. ? (#23) [23/12/07] {?}
06. ? (#28) [30/12/07] {244,510}
07. 10,651 (#27) [06/01/08] {255,161}
08. 7,139 (#33) [13/01/08] {262,300}
09. 4,972 (#46) [20/01/08] {267,272}
10. 4,069 (#49) [27/01/08] {271,341}

In the 7th week when it sold 10,651, its sales were down -55%. Technically that could be anywhere from -54.5% to -55.49%, which gives a possible range of 23,409 to 23,934 sales in the 6th week. If we go with 23,672 (which is precisely -55%), then it would have sold ‭54,452‬ in the 5th week at #23 (but it could have been anywhere between ‭54,190‬ and ‭54,715‬).

A slight shame that they weren't able to replicate the big weekly sales of What Will the Neighbours Say, Chemistry and The Sound of Girls Aloud with Tangled Up. Chemistry sold 266,000 in its first 4 weeks, whereas it took Tangled Up 9 weeks to reach 267,000. Thankfully Tangled Up held up better than WWTNS and Chemistry though, building up decent sales over many months rather than being front loaded in Q4!

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 25th April 2020, 05:53 PM

Ya tangled up played more the long game with sales.