Has Rihanna really sold 300k with Rated R? That's surprising given how low it peaked.

Has Rihanna really sold 300k with Rated R? That's surprising given how low it peaked.

She's at about 274,400 at the moment. She's been selling quite consistently, just low down the chart.

re-release doesnt mean its a flop .. what the hell? bit of a stupid comment as most recently lady gaga's Fame just re-released and that was far from a flop..

 

Wasn't The Fame Monster meant to be a seperate album? Or at least GaGa wanted it to be like that, sort of like a mini EP. You're twisting my words. I know what i'm getting at. Re-releases serve no purpose for fans, it's all the record labels trying to capitalise more sales.

 

This argument is boring. I suggest we call Leona and ask her opinion on the matter.

Completely agree about this. I don't get the hate for Paolo Nutini (well, he's not a solo female artist from America!!! :lol: ) but 'Sunny Side Up' is, for me anyways, one of 2009's best albums and is certainly much better than Paolo's debut album.

 

 

I disagree. I much prefer his first album. Stronger songs by far.

Its a shame this debate has focussed more on people's favourite artists than the concept. The "difficult second album" (or sometimes this is applied to third instead) is an established theory, probably for many of the reasons already mentioned. I think the mistake often made and what this thread has shown is that it's often not the 2nd album people are on about, but the "post-breakthrough" album. So for example, Kelly Clarkson's 1st Thankful, had minimal impact here, but after the roaring success of Breakaway the 3rd My December was considered a flop, despite having outsold her first album.

 

Most artists are lucky to get one "in the moment" album, like Breakaway, or Spirit for example. But is it realistic to expect that level of sales to continue or increase, and is that how we should judge "a flop"?

 

Some artists do pull the feat off twice, e.g. Dido with 2x3mil selling albums (though look at the 3rd - syndrome!), or the Spice girls to an extent whose 2nd album was still massive though failed to match the debut's sales (2.9mil --> 1.5mil), and third struggled.

 

Then there are the occasional artists who continue this, e.g. Robbie Williams (half dozen 2mil sellers though rudebox was obviously a mis-step), Coldplay or The Killers (few mil+ sellers a piece).

 

This is definitely the exception rather than the rule. I think how you measure a flop is totally subjective. It seems unfair in a way to call Leona or Rihanna a flop at this stage for example, and i'll give an example why: consider Kylie Minogue. Fever was a huge seller (1.7mil) and she's generally thought of as a huge artist. She and her albums since have been thought of as successful despite selling far less (Body Language 350-400k, X 450-475k), and in fact sold similarly to the previous one too, hailed as her big comeback at the time (Light Years, 350k). Now there was a minority of people i remember when BL and X came out who said flop, didn't sell as much as fever but i don't think that was the general consensus.

 

By contrast, Rihanna has already sold 300k+ of Rated R (her 2nd biggest album) and Leona~600k of Echo but Kylie has never been written off for these level of sales (and she sold even less at some phases of her career). So should flop be based on just the previous/biggest album, career averages, absolute units shifted, comparison to other artists or (as in the case of record companies i'm sure) return on investment?

 

Sorry about the ramble, kind of spun this out a bit. Debate away! :wacko:

 

If you're gonna quote Kylie's sales, next time at least make them accurate.

 

Light Years had sold 450,000+

Fever has sold 1.85 million

Body Lanugage has sold 410,000+

X has sold 456,000

Ultimate Kylie has sold 1,100,000