UK Charts This Week

 

 

In a week when Lady GaGa’s The Fame rises to the artist album summit again, Now That’s What I Call Music! 75 remains compilation king and Scouting For Girls continue atop the singles chart, it is sales, or the lack of them, that must be addressed first.

After receiving a modest boost from Easter gift-buying in the previous frame, sales were in rapid retreat last week, taking a massive 30.1% hit, as they tumbled to 1,571,359. They have only been lower once in 535 prior chart weeks thus far in the 21st century, :o and barely beat the century low of 1,564,412 albums sold in week ending 13 May 2000.

 

The Fame’s latest resurgence comes a year and a week after it first topped the chart – a residency that lasted four weeks. It returned to the summit for a week at the start of March and for a further week at the end of March.

 

In keeping with the overall distressed state of the market, The Fame sold only 25,211 copies last week :arrr: – just 282 copies more than Boyzone’s Brother which dips to number two.

 

It is a total The Fame has topped on 24 occasions, and the lowest sale for a number one artist album since The Last Broadcast by The Doves topped the list on a paltry sale of 22,437 eight years ago next month. The Fame has thus far spent 48 weeks in the Top 10, and has sold 1,890,276 copies, of which 501,312 have been sold in the last 14 weeks – enough to make it the biggest-selling album of 2010, with Paolo Nutini’s Sunny Side Up in second place on sales of 440,057 copies.

 

 

US Charts This Week

 

Justin Bieber scoots back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with "My World 2.0," shifting 102,000 copies (down 65%) in its third week on the chart. It bowed atop the list two weeks ago with 283,000 but fell to No. 2 last week upon the No. 1-arrival of Usher's "Raymond v Raymond" (329,000 in its debut). This week, Usher's set slips to No. 2 with 92,000, down 72%.

 

The chart's highest debut arrives at No. 3 from guitar god Slash with his self-titled album starting with 60,000. It's the former Guns N' Roses' and Velvet Revolver member's first solo effort, although he has a lot of help from some very famous friends on the set. Each of its tracks sports guest vocals from a familiar artist, including guest turns from Fergie, M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, Kid Rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Kid Rock, Dave Grohl and Adam Levine.

 

Slash's set, released on the artist's own Dik Hayd label through EMI Label Services, helps give EMI Music something to crow about this week: the company owns three out of the top five albums on the Billboard 200 for the first time since 2004. Slash's album joins Lady Antebellum's Capitol Nashville set "Need You Now" at No. 4 -- up one slot -- with 57,000 (down 34%) and Capitol's "Now 33" compilation at No. 5 -- down two -- with 53,000 (down 57%).

 

The last time EMI had three albums in the top five was on the chart dated April 24, 2004, when "Now 15" (No. 2; Capitol), Janet Jackson's "Damita Jo" (No. 3; Virgin/Capitol) and Norah Jones' "Feels Like Home" (No. 5; Blue Note) reigned.

 

The second and final debut in the top 10 belongs to Madonna at No. 10 with "Sticky & Sweet Tour" (28,000) :puke2: It's the Queen of Pop's 19th top 10 set and her third live release. With 19 top 10 albums, the star ties with Bob Dylan for sixth place among acts with the most top 10s in the chart's 54-year history. Ahead of them are the Rolling Stones (with 36), Frank Sinatra (33), the Beatles and Barbra Streisand (30) and Elvis Presley (27).

 

As for the rest of the holdovers in the top 10 this week, Monica's "Still Standing" stands still at No. 6 with 38,000 (down 53%) while Lady Gaga's "The Fame" moves up two spots to No. 7 with 32,000 (down 35%). Justin Bieber's first "My World" album holds at No. 8 with just under 30,000 (down 53%) and Erykah Badu's "New Amerykah, Part Two" falls five rungs to No. 9, selling almost as many as Bieber's 30,000 (down 73%). :o

 

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending April 11) totaled 5.27 million units, down 23% compared to the sum last week (6.84 million)

and down 33% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009 (7.83 million). Year to date album sales stand at 87.23 million, down 10% compared to the same total at this point last year (96.86 million).

 

 

 

The Music Week And Billboard charts commentaries speak for themselves. The music industry is Dead :arrr: and there is no way to save it now. :cry:

Edited April 15, 201015 yr by Big Mistake

might just be a low sales week

Edited April 15, 201015 yr by Suga.Chazzy

You could spend all your money on buying more albums to do your bit!

just a low sales week - the sales in the charts over the past 3 years have been decent.this week will be alot better for singles at the very least due to all the new entries which will mean higher sales.the no1 might not sell much more than 60k but the top 10 should all be nearer to 30k due to the 3/4 new entries!!

just a low sales week - the sales in the charts over the past 3 years have been decent.this week will be alot better for singles at the very least due to all the new entries which will mean higher sales.the no1 might not sell much more than 60k but the top 10 should all be nearer to 30k due to the 3/4 new entries!!

 

Decent???? Sales in the US have decreased by 45% since 2005 and the trend continues...

and the UK sales are not much better . In France, which has almost the same population as the UK, a number album can sell as low as 9.000 copies and the number 1 single 3.000 copies. In Germany which has 80 million population, the number 1 album sells 20.000 copies nowadays.

In the States with 300 million population, it is enough to sell 25.000 copies to reach the top 10. :o and we have had number 1's selling 60.000 copies. :arrr:

I think part of the reason is the lack of 'big' albums out this year so far.

Most of the albums in the chart are 2009 big releases that are lying around waiting to be pushed down by newer albums from big artists.

Decent???? Sales in the US have decreased by 45% since 2005 and the trend continues...

and the UK sales are not much better . In France, which has almost the same population as the UK, a number album can sell as low as 9.000 copies and the number 1 single 3.000 copies. In Germany which has 80 million population, the number 1 album sells 20.000 copies nowadays.

In the States with 300 million population, it is enough to sell 25.000 copies to reach the top 10. :o and we have had number 1's selling 60.000 copies. :arrr:

 

 

single sales in the uk at least are bouyant at the moment - its trying to convert that popularity with the albums now and convince people who like the first single and the second single from an artist to part with their money for the album and by offering them something extra for their cash - like a cool cover art and more info on the artist.thats why lady gaga is still top of the album charts - because she is convincing more and more that the album would be worth it by releasing some excellent output!!

single sales in the uk at least are bouyant at the moment - its trying to convert that popularity with the albums now and convince people who like the first single and the second single from an artist to part with their money for the album and by offering them something extra for their cash - like a cool cover art and more info on the artist.thats why lady gaga is still top of the album charts - because she is convincing more and more that the album would be worth it by releasing some excellent output!!

 

I don't think cover art is the way to convince people to buy an album.

Cherry picking + illegal downloading are the reason behing the fast decline of the album concept. The only way to shift this trend around is to forbid illegal downloading and shut down file-sharing websites and make album tracks not available for download seperatly via itunes and other legal net stores unless they are released as singles.

Album sales were up last year compared to 2008.

It's just a low sales week as numerous people have already stated.

 

We get them every once in a while. It bounces back. No need to get all dramatic about it - the music industry didn't die when Orson were #1 on less than 18k sales, and how the hell would the music industry 'die' anyway?

I don't think cover art is the way to convince people to buy an album.

Cherry picking + illegal downloading are the reason behing the fast decline of the album concept. The only way to shift this trend around is to forbid illegal downloading and shut down file-sharing websites and make album tracks not available for download seperatly via itunes and other legal net stores unless they are released as singles.

 

But then again, if people saw singles they liked on an album they had less reservations about forking out for a full album, but these days most casual buyers find it more cost effective to download the singles they actually know for 79p or whatever, I don't see that changing any day soon.

It's just low selling week. Nothing to be worried about. Although this year hasn't been that great in music compared to the standard greatness of yesteryear (2009).

Edited April 15, 201015 yr by Tacticz

It's because there's nothing out. 2010 has been crap so far musically. No wonder sales are down. You can't buy what's not there.

It was a low sales week because there was bugger all out to buy - why would people go and buy an album they already have just to have a no. 1 selling over 30k. It doesn't work like that.

 

This week looks set to have a massive u-turn as Usher's track 'OMG' is running ahead of the competition so I reckon a minimum of 60k sales plus Plan B could be looking at selling towards 100k for his album.

 

Album sales have dipped because people can now just cherry pick their fave songs off an album. Whilst album sales have suffered, the singles chart has had a boost. Now you can see weeks where the no. 75 single sells about 5k - exactly the same sales that physical singles were selling at one point in January 2005 to make the top 10.

It's because there's nothing out. 2010 has been crap so far musically. No wonder sales are down. You can't buy what's not there.

 

Exactly. If only record companies could make all tracks available on iTunes in all countries rather than just Central Europe and Ireland then the UK get the tracks about two months later. :rolleyes:

 

We'll probably never get Marit Larsen, Stromae or Caro Emerald added to UK iTunes but if I did have iTunes and the tracks were available to buy, I'd more than likely buy them. :D

It was a low sales week because there was bugger all out to buy - why would people go and buy an album they already have just to have a no. 1 selling over 30k. It doesn't work like that.

 

This week looks set to have a massive u-turn as Usher's track 'OMG' is running ahead of the competition so I reckon a minimum of 60k sales plus Plan B could be looking at selling towards 100k for his album.

 

Album sales have dipped because people can now just cherry pick their fave songs off an album. Whilst album sales have suffered, the singles chart has had a boost. Now you can see weeks where the no. 75 single sells about 5k - exactly the same sales that physical singles were selling at one point in January 2005 to make the top 10.

Exactly! I couldn't express it better!

 

I hate when people turn dramatic when there is a low week sales and immediately blame the illegal downloads... how boring :zzz:

Just compare this year's single sales with the sales of 2005... so? what's the result?

The problem is lack of established acts. Acts need to take time and build up massive fanbases who will be prepared to part their money with a quality album/CD. These days it's just randomers coming in with a massive debut, fairly succesful 2nd single, flop 3rd single, "peaking in top ten then plummeting" albums and then a two year break, usually where all the material just begins to flop.

 

Unless you're Pink, Britney, Christina, Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, Kylie, Robbie, Eminem or someone like JLS/Cheryl Cole then it's practically impossible for your album to even get to 700K these days. :(

There is a MASSIVE lack of quality albums being released at the moment, and as metioned from 'established acts'. Any albums I have bought this year are from 2009, and I am all for buying physical CDs....but there really isn't anything out there at the moment I want, say compared to 2004/2005/2006 when I spent way too much on CDs!! :lol:

Edited April 15, 201015 yr by Justin

Album sales were up last year compared to 2008.

 

i'm not talking just about the UK.

i'm talking about the worldwide trend. (eg: The US)

It was the Easter Week last week in the US which automatically means better sales than usual. So the drop seems more dramatic than it would've been compared to "normal" week. Also, this week last year was Easter week so comparable numbers were a lot better then.

That said, Top 10 album selling 28,000 copies is not very good. But at least we had a no. 1 album that sold over 100,000. That's not going to happen next week.